There's No Way!
by JoyMarie
Summary: COMPLETE! Ponyboy has to choose between staying with his brothers or helping out. The gang learns that sometimes when you say There's no way, you're not always right.
1. Chapter 1

Someone was shaking me, but I couldn't quite figure out who or why. I tried to force my eyes open, but sleep was still holding me. The shaking just got harder. I tried to focus on the words. "Come on Pony...it's almost...you gotta get..."

I finally forced my eyes open and Johnny's face slowly came into focus. "Johnny...?" What was he doing here?

"Glory Pony, I thought you'd never wake up."

I let out a groan and rolled over onto my back. "What time is it?"

"Almost 10:00"

That made me sit up real fast. "Really?" Man, I hadn't heard Soda or Darry at all this morning.

Johnny had an amused look on his face. "I'm heading over to the lot. Probably gonna meet Katelyn and catch a movie later. You wanna come?"

Katelyn was almost thirteen. Her family had moved into our neighborhood a couple years ago. They were going through some rough times, and Johnny had really latched onto her,  
kinda took her under his wing. She started hanging out with us some, even more so after her mom died a year ago.

I tried to stifle a yawn. "Maybe in a little while. I was planning on straightening the house a little before Darry gets home."

"Alright." Johnny answered, heading out the door. "Don't go back to sleep."

I grinned and got out of bed. How in the world had I slept so late? And how had I not heard Soda - not even once? I headed for the kitchen. There was a plate of eggs and bacon left on the table for me, but I didn't want it. Not just because I knew it would be cold by now, but I wasn't hungry. Maybe I was getting sick. I sure hoped not.

By 12:00 I thought the house looked decent enough and was getting ready to head over to the lot when I heard a knock on the door. Strange. No one we know ever knocks.

I opened the door and was met by our Aunt Rachel. She was well dressed and had an "I'm better than you" look to her. She was Dad's only sister. Step-sister actually, and older by two years. We hadn't seen much of her until our parent's funeral. She'd stood there crying and carrying on like Dad had been her closest friend. If she had liked Dad so much, then why hadn't she shown up more often? Where was she when Dad was alive? She was rich,  
that's where. Grownups may not call themselves Soc and Greasers, but the division is still there. The rich still think they're better than the "not so well off." Her and Dad used to be real close, until she had married some rich guy, and then she would hardly speak to Dad.  
That really bothered him, which bothered us. She'd shown up a few times since the funeral, nagging about stuff. Our house wasn't clean enough. Were we eating healthy enough? How were our grades? Man, she'd really lost it when she found out Soda had dropped out of school a couple weeks ago.

And here she was again. I noticed her looking around, and was glad I had taken the time to straighten up a little. "Where are you're brothers?" Her voice had a forced kindness to it. "I have to speak with them right away."

"They're right where they should be - at work." My voice was flat, but I couldn't help it.

"I should have known they'd leave you here by yourself." Like that was some sort of crime or something. "I'll just have to wait until they get back."

Boy howdy, that was just how I wanted to spend my Saturday. Listening to this lady whine.

"Have a seat Aunt Rachel. Can I get you something to drink?" I may not like Rachel, but she was Dad's sister, and he'd always wanted us to treat her with respect.

"No. Thank you. How long do you think I'll have to wait?"

You don't HAVE to wait at all, I thought, but said, "They should be back by 5:00. Maybe earlier."

Rachel sighed like her world was ending. What did she expect, for Darry and Soda to have guessed she was coming, and then skipped work for it? No, I couldn't take this all day.  
"I'm going to meet some friends and see a movie."

Rachel looked shocked. "What? And leave me here by myself? When I came just to see you?" Right. She hadn't even said "hello" to me.

"You could come with us." I offered, just so I could tell Darry I had. She ignored my comment.

"And I hope you're not hanging out with those ruffians. I really can't understand why your parent's allowed you to hang out with such riff-raff. If they'd had any sense..." I stepped out onto the porch, leaving her nagging behind.

"Hey Pony, some car ya got here. Where'd you swipe this thing at?" Two-bit was examining Rachel's car. It was a pretty tuff car. 


	2. Chapter 2

Two-Bit's POV

Pony only looked slightly amused at my joke. "It's Rachel's," he said, rolling his eyes.

That explained it then. I'd heard of this aunt, Rachel. None of the Curtis boys were too fond of her. Funny, I thought, how they could have such a rich aunt, and yet Darry and Soda had to work so hard to pay the bills. But then again, I wouldn't take a million dollars from a Soc if they offered it to me. Maybe they felt the same way about their aunt.

"What does she want this time?" I asked, running my hand along the side of the car.  
Maybe I wouldn't take a million dollars, but it sure would be nice to have such a tuff car.

Pony just shrugged and knocked my hand away. "She wants to talk to Darry. Come on,  
Johnny's probably wondering what happened to me."

Pony's POV

"Hey Pony, look at that dog." Two-Bit pointed to a raggedy looking mutt as we walked.  
"I've always wanted a dog. Someday I'm gonna get me a dog and we're gonna be best buddies. I'll teach him all kinds of neat tricks."

Two-Bit proceeded to talk about his future dog all the way to the Lot. Dally and Johnny were there watching Katelyn talk. I say they were watching her talk because she was real good at acting and could make you believe just about anything if she wanted to. She had dark brown hair that hung straight, a little passed her shoulders, and her eyes were piercing green. She was one of the few people with green eyes that I actually liked. She walked with her head high and had an air about her that demanded respect.

Dally's POV

I caught the end of Two-Bit's words as he and Pony walked up. "And he'll come when I call him, and he'll speak. Shoot, the two of us may run off and join the circus. We'll be famous."

"Hey what's he talking about Ponyboy?" I asked

Two-Bit answered for himself. "I'm gonna get me a dog and we're gonna be best buddies.  
And I'm gonna teach him all kinds of neat tricks."

Pony rolled his eyes like he had already heard that and said "I'm hungry. Let's go to the DX and get something to eat with Soda and Steve. Then maybe we can catch a movie."

"Good idea, I'm starved." Katelyn said as we headed to the DX station.

Two-Bit rambled on about that stupid dog the whole way. If I hadn't been in such a good mood I might have shut him up.

"Why, I'll even teach him to walk the tightrope and we'll get our picture in the paper." He continued as we walked up to the DX.

Steve and Soda looked up at us. "What are you talking about Two-Bit?"

"I'm gonna buy me a dog and we're gonna be best buddies and..."

I whacked Two-Bit upside the head. "If you say one more word about that dog I'll muzzle both of you."

"You're just jealous because you don't have a dog." Was Two-Bit's reply.

Soda grinned, "Last time I checked you didn't have one either Two-Bit."

"No, but I'm gonna get me one and...Whoa! Did you see that tuff car?! Man..."

Pony's POV

No one paid much attention as Two-Bit went off on another rampage. He'd be talking about cars until something else caught his fancy.

Steve turned to me, "So, the kid finally rolled out of bed. We thought maybe you'd died or something."

"Lay off him Steve," Soda said. "Let's go get something to eat."

We crossed the street and got some food from the Tatsee Freeze. Steve made the mistake of asking if we knew anything new, because Two-Bit piped up about getting a dog again.  
He then proceeded to talk about it like it was a new concept he'd never shared with us before.

We didn't pay much attention to him and Katelyn said, "My dad's finally got enough money so we can get our own place."

"You moving to the west side and becoming a Soc?" Soda teased.

We all knew that would never happen. Katelyn was a real tuff Greaser, and proud of it.  
But she was also proud of the fact that she didn't have to act like one. Sometimes at school she got invited into a group of Soc girls. 'Course, when they found out that she hung around Greasers like us, they'd turn of her pretty fast. She didn't mind though because they weren't really her type. Too "hypocritical and stuck up." It was like a game to her. See how long you can trick the Soc into liking you. Like I said, she was real good at making people think whatever she wanted them to think, and she liked that. And we liked to tease her about it.

"No way!" She said "There's no way that's gonna happen."

It wasn't too long until the movie started so we didn't get to talk to much about her move before we headed out. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Katelyn's POV

The movie had been allright. It had Debbie Reynolds in it. She was pretty cool. Someday, I was gonna be a big shot actress like her. As we neared Pony's house I headed off towards my own home.

"Ain't you coming in for a while Katelyn?" Johnny asked me.

"No...I think I better get home." I said, even though most of the time no one cared where I was. Ever since Mom had died, Dad had immersed himself into his work and I hardly ever saw him. We were still living with his brother, Robert, who supposedly kept an eye on me when Dad worked late, but he never really did. I was mostly a bother to Uncle Robert, except when he wanted me to do something - like fix his dinner or clean the house. I didn't really think it was fair that I had to do ALL the work, but Dad said it was the least we could do to thank him for letting us stay at his house.

Pony's POV

"Aw Pony," Two-Bit said, pointing to our Ford truck. "Somebody's done ran off with your new car and left you this old piece of junk. How do ya like that?"

I gave him a lopsided grin. Actually, I was real glad to see that Rachel's car was gone. She probably wasn't too happy with me for leaving her like I did.

Inside, Soda and Steve were having one of their arm wrestling matches and Darry was fixing supper. He walked out into the living room, wiping his hands on a towel. "So,  
what did you guys do all day?"

"Well, I decided I'm gonna get me a dog." Two-Bit said mater-of-factly. "And we're gonna be..."

"TWO-BIT Shut up!" We all shouted at the same time.

He pretended to look hurt as he pushed Soda out of the way so he could have a change at arm wresting Steve.

"Was Rachel still here when you got back?" I asked Soda. He nodded but didn't say anything else so I continued, "What did she want?"

Darry was the one who answered me. "Nothing much, you know how she is."

I looked back at Soda, wanting him to fill in the details but he just shrugged and looked away. Darry must have told him not to tell me. "Why can't I know?"

"Because you don't need to know, allright? Just forget about it." Darry came and stopped a few feet in front of me. "And why did you leave her here by herself? What were you thinking?"

I just stared blankly at him. I didn't really understand what he was so upset about.

"How would you like to spend a whole day with her by yourself, Darry?" Soda came and put an arm around me. He always sticks up for me.

"Point taken." Darry said, as he returned to the kitchen. "Hey, who all's staying for supper?"

Steve landed Two-Bit's arm on the table and then jumped up, "I gotta go. I'm meeting Evie tonight."

"And I'm heading to Buck's." Dally replied. "See you later."

Two-Bit and Johnny didn't say anything, so we figured they were staying.

When you get five guys at a table, it can get pretty loud, especially when two of them are Soda and Two-Bit, but I wasn't paying much attention to the noise. I was trying to figure out what Rachel had wanted and why Darry had gotten so upset. It didn't make me feel too hot to have my brother snap at me, especially when the gang was there.

"Pony. Earth to Ponyboy." Two-Bit's voice pulled me back. Everyone was looking at me,  
like they were waiting for an answer, only I hadn't heard the question. I met Two-Bit's eyes and he cocked an eyebrow and looked down at my plate. I followed his gaze and noticed that everyone else had finished eating but I'd barely touched my food. I still didn't know what I was supposed to say so I just got up and started clearing the table.

"Ain't you gonna eat anything Ponyboy?" Darry asked. I just shook my head and kept working. Johnny offered to help me do the dishes. Soda and Two-Bit just sat at the table while Darry went to take out the trash.

"You seem kinda out of it Pony. What's going on?" Johnny's dark eyes were sincere. I knew he really wanted me to tell him what was wrong.

"I'm just tired." That was partly true.

Johnny raised his eyebrows, "After all that sleep? You getting sick or something?" I just shrugged so he continued. "Are you upset because Darry snapped at you?"

"A little." I felt bad because I knew that compared to what Johnny went through at his house, mine was like heaven. But Johnny was real good about understanding. He gave me one of his rare smiles and reached over with a dripping, soapy hand and tossled my hair. 

As water slid down the side of my face I looked at Johnny, stunned. I expected something like that from Two-Bit or Soda, but not Johnny.

"Look real tuff there Pony," Johnny chuckled.

"Bet you would too." I said as I placed a handful of suds on top of his head.

Soda chose that moment to glance up from the table. "Two-Bit, look! Water fight"  
They charged in and next thing I knew we were all dumping water and throwing suds everywhere. Two-Bit picked up the bottle of dish soap and I grabbed a sponge from under the sink and soaked it in water.

Darry's POV

I stood outside for a moment, breathing in the cool air. I knew Ponyboy was upset at me because I wouldn't tell him why Rachel had been there, but I didn't want him to worry.  
Sometimes doing the right thing felt so wrong.

I sighed and walked back inside and heard a ruckus coming from the kitchen. Then Two-Bit exclaimed,  
"Ow, you got soap in my eye!"

"Well, you're getting it all over the floor."

I poked my head into the kitchen to see what was going on and was greeted by a very wet sponge landing on my face. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve. "I step out of the house for five minutes and look what happens." Everyone seemed oblivious to my comment so I just leaned against the door post and watched.

All four were dripping wet and water was everywhere. It looked like they were trying to clean the kitchen rather than the dishes. Pony started to dump a cup of water on Johnny's head, but Johnny reached for the sink sprayer and squirted him in the face. Soda charged across the room at Two-Bit, dishcloth in hand. Two-Bit hopped up on the counter with a shout to get out of the way. Soda tried to stop short of the counter but slipped and went flying backwards. He grabbed hold of Two-Bit's leg on the way down and they both crashed to the floor,  
bringing a pan of dirty water down on top of them.

A minute later when Soda pulled out the chocolate cake and smeared it on Pony's shirt I decided things were getting a little out of hand. I went outside and picked up the water hose and screwed on the sprayer before turning it on full blast and returning inside.

"You can't have cake without milk." Johnny said, pulling the milk out of the icebox.

Before he had a chance to get the lid off I blasted them with the hose.

"Ooo, that's COLD!" Pony yelped.

"Yeah, what'd ya do that for?" Soda questioned.

I stopped spraying. "Just thought y'all could use a rinse. Don't forget to do the dishes while you're cleaning the kitchen." I took the hose back outside and then sat down on the couch with the newspaper. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Pony's POV **

It took us a while to get the kitchen cleaned up and when we were finished I went into my room to read. I would have gone on to bed but I wanted to wait until Soda came in so I could talk to him. And besides that, it was still early, especially for a Saturday night. When he did finally come in, I was almost asleep. He grinned at me like I was crazy.

**Soda's POV**

The light in our room was still on and Pony was lying on the bed. His eyes were almost shut and his book had fallen onto his stomach. I couldn't help but laugh at him. He must have heard me.

"Soda, tell me why Rachel was here."

I took a deep breath. "Ponyboy..."

"Please."

I sighed and flopped onto the bed next to him. "She wanted to give us money, ok?"

"Really?" His eyes brightened a little "Did you take it?"

I grinned real big. "No way. It was just out of pity. And guilt too. I think she feels guilty for not coming around more when Dad was alive. There was no way we were taking her money."

Ponyboy thought about that for a minute and then mumbled "Charity. From a rich, guilt-ridden Soc. I guess I wouldn't want it either. Was she mad?"

"You bet. She got pretty huffy when Darry said no." I leaned my head back onto my pillow, thinking about the look on Aunt Rachel's face. It had been priceless.

Pony propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at me. "Why didn't Darry just tell me?"

I had already said more than Darry wanted me to, so I just got up and turned out the light. "Don't worry about it Kido."

**Johnny's POV**

I woke up in the lot, cold and stiff. My clothes were wrinkled and damp and still had remnants of chocolate cake on them so I went home to change. I glanced in our front window and saw Mom sprawled across the couch, probably sleeping off a hangover. I didn't want to chance waking her up so I crawled in through my window. I needed a shower, but that would have made too much noise and I really didn't feel like getting screamed at this morning, so I just threw on some dry clothes and crawled back out.

I headed to Katelyn's house. There weren't any cars in the drive way so I went ahead and knocked. If her uncle's car had been there, I'd have gone around to her window and knocked.

"Hey Johnny. Man, you look awful tired. Did you sleep in the lot again last night?" Katelyn worried about me when I slept in the lot.

I mumbled a yes as she continued. "I bet you haven't had anything to eat today. You can have Uncle Robert's breakfast. I fixed it, but he didn't have time to eat it." Suddenly her voice switched over to a British accent "Right this way sir." I followed her into the dinning room and sat down.

Katelyn threw a hand towel over her arm and pulled out an imaginary pen and paper. "Now then, may I start you off with a drink?"

I grinned at her antics. Only Katelyn could take an old house and turn it into a five-star restaurant in a matter of seconds. As long as she was acting, I might as well go along. "French coffee please Madame."

"And what can I get you for breakfast?"

"I think I'll have the sausage and gravy biscuits, fried apples, and eggs - slightly poached."

"Very good. I'll be right back with your order."

She pranced into the kitchen and returned a minute later. "Your order sir - milk, toast with jam, and scrambled eggs - slightly chilled. Can I get you anything else?"

I laughed and shook my head. "I'm gonna meet the guys in the lot and play some football. You could come with me."

"I don't know. I'd have to make sure I was back before Uncle Robert.. He'll be pretty upset if I'm not."

"He doesn't ever hit you does he?" Katelyn was like a sister to me and I couldn't stand the thought of anyone hurting her.

"Nah. He just yells a lot." I saw a flicker of hate behind her eyes. "I can't wait to get out of this house."

"Soon Kit-Kat." I took my plate into the kitchen but left the dish washing to her. "Come on and play some football with us. Your uncle won't be back before lunch."

**Pony's POV **

Me, Johnny, Two-Bit and Katelyn were playing against Dally, Steve, and Soda. They were beating us pretty good for a while, but we got our act together and were really starting to catch up. Two-Bit was running full speed, about to score, when a dog streaked out in front of him and knocked him flat.

"Hey wasn't that your dog Two-Bit?" I questioned him playfully.

Two-bit got up limping. "No way man. I ain't never gonna get a dog. Stupid mutt."

He had twisted his ankle pretty good and couldn't play, which was going to be a real set back to our team, but we still wanted to finish.

"I think we better just call it a game." Steve said. "Soda and I are supposed to meet Evie and Sandy pretty soon anyway."

"You're just afraid we're gonna beat you." I remarked.

"We aren't afraid…" Steve started but was interrupted by Katelyn

"I need to get home anyway. I gotta get the house cleaned before Uncle Robert and Dad get home."

"Don't let those two push you around too much." Dally said. "If your uncle starts bothering you, just let me know." We all felt pretty protective over Katelyn.

"Aye aye captain." She saluted and marched off.

Johnny and I headed for my house but stopped when we saw Aunt Rachel's car parked there again. I kicked the ground in disgust. "Shoot Johnny, what does she want now? Why can't she just leave us alone?"

Johnny took a long drag on his cigarette. "I don't know man. Do you wanna just head back to the park or something?"

"Nah, might as well see what she wants. Maybe I can find out why she was here yesterday." I also figured that if Darry found out I just left her again, I'd really get it, but Ididn't say that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Pony's POV**

Rachel was in the living room putting together a couple of boxes. She looked up when the

door opened. "Ponyboy, there you are. You know you really shouldn't leave your door unlocked. Do you have any idea what could happen...who's this?"

I put an arm around Johnny's shoulders. "This is my buddy, Johnny."

Rachel gave him a look of disgust. "Well, I suppose he can help us too."

"Help us what?" I wanted to know.

"Pack your stuff." Rachel said as she grabbed a box and headed for the back of the house.

"You're coming back to Oklahoma City with me."

"No way." I said, kicking one of the boxes to the side. "Besides, Darry and Soda would never let me."

"For your information, young man, _Darry_ is the one who gave me permission. We talked about it yesterday."

"There is no way I'm going anywhere with you."

"Don't you understand? They can't afford to keep you anymore. Darry wants to get on with his life and you're just holding him back. You're in the way" Rachel paused to regain control. "Now, please help me."

I sat down on the couch and tried to keep my voice calm. "No! Why do you care about what happens with us anyway?"

"I'm your _aunt_, I'm _supposed_ to care. I made a promise to your father and I plan on keeping it."

So it wasn't just guilt and pity, it was obligation. She'd probably look real good taking in her poor, orphaned nephew to help out.

I could feel my face getting hot. "You never cared before."

"Look. Either you can decide to come with me or I can take you to court."

"What?!" I looked over at Johnny. He looked as shocked as I felt. "Why?"

"Do you really think that Darry has the time and money to worry about going to court? You should save him the trouble. And if you come with me, I can get you a job and you can make a lot of money. You can show Darry that you're actually useful."

**Johnny's POV**

I felt really out of place and wondered if I should just leave or if Ponyboy would want me to stay. He was facing Rachel now. His fists were clinched by his side and his voice was wrapped with hatred. "I asked you why?"

"For one thing, to keep you away from hoods like him." She pointed a finger in my direction and Pony lost it.

"Get out! Get out of my house!" He yelled and all but pushed Rachel out the front door. "And take these with you." He threw the boxes out and slammed the door. Then locked it.

"Why didn't Darry tell me that's what she wanted? Why does he always treat me like a little kid?"

I hadn't seen Pony this mad in a long time. His breathing was ragged and he lit a cigarette to help calm himself.

"Hey Johnny, I'm sorry about what she said."

"Don't worry about it man, it ain't your fault." I was used to it anyway. My parents screamed at me a lot, and we'd certainly had plenty of Soc call us worse things than that.

"Come on."

I followed him out the back door. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know, but Darry better not be the only one here when I get back."

**Darry's POV**

I had to work late and didn't get home until almost 8:00. The front door locked and I wondered why. I pounded on it, but no one answered so I went around to the back. I stepped inside and was welcomed by a silent house, which is extremely rare. The silence was actually nice, but I had no clue where anyone was and I felt a little left out. I hated working on Sundays because it was one day that no one else had work or school and we could spend the whole day together. I used to hang out a lot with Sodapop and Pony, but ever since Mom and Dad had died I'd been so busy. Sometimes I felt like I hardly knew Soda anymore, at least not like I used to. And I really had no clue how to communicate with Ponyboy. He always took things the wrong way.

I was headed to unlock the front door when I saw Soda run up to it. He always flings the door open real hard and this time was no different…only the door didn't open.

_THUMP_

"Owwww"

I opened the door and looked down at Soda, who was lying on the porch. "Door's locked, Little Buddy."

He stood up, rubbing his shoulder. "You could have warned me."

"You could try opening the door a little softer."

Soda rolled his eyes at me and went inside. He kicked off his shoes and threw his DX shirt towards the couch but missed. "What's it locked for?"

"You tell me, you were the last ones out this morning." I picked up the DX shirt and threw it back at Soda. "You could try putting this away for once too."

He just crinkled it into a ball and threw it towards his bedroom. "Last I saw Pony, him and Johnny were heading back this way for lunch. Maybe they locked it."

"These too buddy." I handed Soda his shoes and shook my head as they followed his shirt. "Where is Pony anyway?"

"Shoot, if I knew that I'd be able to tell you why the door was locked."

I gave him a playful punch and we sat down at the table. "He seemed a little riffed at me this morning. Do I really do that bad a job?"

Soda's face got serious. "No man. You do real great. You and Pony just need to try and understand each other more. He's still trying to adjust, ya know. I think he's hurting more than he lets on."

"I worry about him. He's my baby brother and I want him to do well. You know?"

"Sure." We sat there for a minute in silence and then the door burst open. Ponyboy walked in and slammed it hard. Sometimes it surprised me that the door was still in one piece.

"Hey Pony. What have you been doing today?" I asked lightheartedly. He didn't even acknowledge that I was in the room. "Pony?"

He looked at Soda. "How was your date with Sandy?"

"Umm…it was ok. Aren't you going to answer Darry?"

"Why? He wouldn't answer me yesterday. Tell him the next time he tries to pawn me off on someone, he should at least let me know first." Pony walked into his room, pushed Soda's shoes out of the way, and closed the door.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I felt like a complete failure. "I would never pawn him off, Soda. Where'd he get that idea?"

Sodapop came over and massaged my shoulders. "We'll get it worked out. He'll be ok." He stopped and rubbed his own shoulder. "My _shoulder_ on the other hand….."

He gave me one of his crazy grins, but I knew he was as worried as I was.

I grinned back. "What would we do without you Soda?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Soda's POV**

It was a typical Wednesday afternoon. Not much action. For some reason, cars never needed to be worked on or filled up on Wednesdays. That's how it seemed anyway. I was sweeping out the store and wondering about Ponyboy. I still hadn't gotten him to tell me what he had been so upset about on Sunday, but at least it seemed to have mostly blown over.

"Hey Sodapop. Have you been slow all day?" Steve came up behind me.

"Yeah. Pretty much. Hey Mr. Hall wants you to mop out the back room. I've already swept it."

"Ok." The bell over the door jingle. "Don't look now Soda, here come your two girlfriends."

My "girlfriends" were two nine-year-old girls that had stopped by the store every day after school for the past two and a half weeks.

"I'll be in the back." Steve grinned as he headed towards the back room. He got way too much joy out of leaving me alone with those two. I didn't really mind them but he didn't have to run every time they came in the store.

I turned to the girls. They were dressed in matching blue jumpers and they both had their hair in pigtails, but their complexions were totally opposite.

"Hey Sodapop." Said the dark haired girl.

"Hello Adaire. Marie." I was still preoccupied with thoughts of Pony. I wondered if he was going to stop by. He hadn't since Saturday.

"Watcha doing?"

"Huh, oh, I'm sweeping."

"Oh." They just stood there smiling at me.

They were probably going to stand there until I gave them my full attention so I said, "You two look cute today."

They looked at each other and giggled.

"Did you dress that way on purpose?" That only provoked more giggles.

As long as I had them here, maybe I could get some use out of them. I leaned forward and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "You want to do something for me?"

Their eyes filled with excitement as they nodded.

"See that door over there? I want you to take this" I handed them my dustpan, "and dump it on the floor back there."

"On the floor?" Marie's blue eyes were wide.

"Oh yeah. We always dump it back there and then sweep it out later."

They exchanged smiles again and headed for the backroom. I waited, listening.

"SODAPOP PATRICK CURTIS!"

Ah, success.

I heard the dustpan clatter and the girls came running over to me. Steve stopped in the doorway. "Sodapop you….."

"Careful. Young ears." I nodded to the girls and grinned at him real big. He glared at me and then stormed back into the room.

"Good job girls. I think that deserves a Coke."

**PONY'S POV**

Two-Bit, Katelyn, and I stopped by the DX on our way home. We saw Adaire and Marie leaving the store with their Cokes. I was surprised they were still coming around because I thought they would be over their crush by now.

Two-Bit waved to them and questioned "Hey you wanna buy us some Cokes too?"

"We didn't buy them" Marie said, "Sodapop just gave them to us."

"Yeah, cause we were helping him." Adaire said. The two looked at each other and burst into giggles.

As we entered the DX, Two-Bit remarked "Soda, you sure must have a way with girls."

Katelyn pulled her hair into pigtails and looked adoringly up at Soda. "Sodapop. Can I have a free Coke too?" She said in a child-like voice. Two-Bit howled with laughter.

"Aw, cut it out Katelyn." Soda didn't respond to our teasing like he usually did. He looked over at me and I could tell he was still trying to figure out why I had been so upset.

Katelyn wasn't going to give up on the free Coke so easily. "Come on. I'll do whatever they did. What did they do anyway?"

Steve came in carrying a dustpan. "This is what they did." He proceeded to dump the contents onto Soda and the floor and then dropped the dustpan. "I do believe that belongs to you, Soda."


	7. Chapter 7

**Katelyn's POV**

I was in my room reading when I heard Dad come home. I looked over at my clock, it was only 8:00. That's early for Dad, even on a Wednesday. He started talking to Robert about us moving. I was glad he was trying to get us our own place. Uncle Robert didn't seem too happy about it though. I'm not really sure why, but he wasn't. Their voices started getting louder and next thing I knew they were yelling at each other - again. I tried to go back to reading but something Dad said caught my attention.

"No, we're going somewhere real nice. Somewhere on the west side of town."

What?! Maybe I hadn't heard right. I put my book down and listened.

"I've got enough money now. I'm getting Katelyn out of this dump."

I wanted to be out of this dump, yeah, but not on the West side. Not where all the Soc lived. _There's no way_. I walked out into the living room. "Dad?" I looked at him questioningly but he didn't answer. "I thought we were thinking somewhere close to here. I thought we had a neighborhood picked out."

Dad looked at me and lowered his volume, "I got more money now Princess. We can get something nicer than that."

"But I don't want something nicer Dad. I'm happy here." I was pleading. I didn't really like to, but I didn't want to move to the West side either.

Dad's eyes narrowed and his voice got firm. "You are not growing up in this neighborhood. This is not place for a young lady."

By this time I was getting mad. He hadn't asked me if I wanted to go there, and he wasn't listening either. He never listened any more. "Dad please, I..."

"No! We're moving where I say and that's final." He yelled.

"You don't care what I think, do you?" I found myself yelling too. I'd never yelled at my dad before. "All you care about is you and your stupid job!" And with that I ran out the front door. I was so mad I could barely see straight, but I kept running. I would go to the Lot to see if Johnny was there. I always felt better after I talked to him. He could understand what I went through at home.

I got to the Lot out of breath and looked around. Johnny wasn't there. The wind was blowing hard, it looked like it might rain. I shivered and crossed my arms. Maybe he was at Pony's house. I turned and headed that direction.

**Pony's POV**

After supper, Soda, Steve, and Johnny started up a card game; I think they were making up the rules as they went along. They had the radio blaring some Elvis song. Two-Bit was sitting in front of the TV, volume turned up loud enough so he could hear it over the radio. I think he was paying more attention to the card game than the TV though. Darry was trying to read the paper and I was sitting at the kitchen table trying to do my homework. Darry suggested that I go to my room to work on it. I probably would have gotten more done that way, but I didn't really feel like being alone right now. Besides, what I was working on wasn't that important.

"Hey Two-Bit" Darry said, "If you're not going to watch the TV then why don't you just turn it off, or at least turn it down."

"I am watching, and if I turn it down I won't be able to hear it because of that music." Two-Bit threw a handful of his popcorn in the general direction of the card game.

Darry wasn't getting any where with Two-Bit. "Hey Soda, turn down the radio."

"What?" Soda asked, not looking up.

Darry's voice raised a notch "Turn down the radio!"

"Sure, just a sec."

It must have been an awfully long second, because the radio never got turned down, and neither did the TV. I heard the door open and Steve say "Hey'a Katelyn, what's shaking?" Katelyn didn't answer. I looked up. Her eyes were like ice. I remembered the first time I had seen them that way. It was the day of her mom's funeral. She had cried a lot that morning, but when she got home that night, the tears were gone and her eyes were hard. Cold. Like Dally's. No more crying, she was tough. That look mostly returned when she was really angry or just wanted to shut off the world.

She walked over and sat down next to Two-Bit in front of the TV. Two-Bit offered her some of his popcorn, but didn't say anything. We had learned pretty early on not to mess with Katelyn when her eyes were like that. Even Soda had gotten belted once. Katelyn had come into our house that day, and me and Soda could instantly tell something was wrong. I'd seen that look enough in Dally's eyes to figure on leaving her alone. Soda musta figured he could get her to smile. Improve her mood a little. He'd sauntered over to her, leaned down with that reckless grin on his face, and made some smart-alec remark that I couldn't quite hear. She'd swung hard, catching him square in the jaw, before marching back outside. We left her alone after that. I tried to turn my attention back to my homework.

"Hey, no cheating Soda." Steve said, "That's cheating."

I could hear a slight pout in Soda's voice. "It isn't either, and you should be careful who you call a cheater."

"Well, I say it's cheating. What do you say Johnny?" When Johnny didn't answer he turned to Two-Bit. "What do you think?"

"I think it's kinda hard to cheat when there aren't any rules to begin with."

I glanced up and saw Soda stick his tongue out at Steve.

"Soda, please turn the radio down!" Darry shouted.

"Then we wouldn't be able to hear it. Two-Bit's got the TV up too loud."

"Soda, you can't do that! It's cheating."

"It is NOT cheating!" Cards went flying, as well as some more popcorn.

Maybe I would be better off in my room. I started to pick my books up when Dallas threw the door open and came in cussing. We could all tell he was real mad about something, but he didn't say what. He just started pacing around the house, cussing and smoking his cigarette. It didn't add anything positive to the room, but I sure wasn't going to say anything to him, and I didn't figure anyone else would either. We didn't exactly feel like getting our heads kicked in.

"Shut up Dallas Winston! Just shut up!" Katelyn yelled suddenly, without taking her eyes off the TV.

Dally stopped pacing. "What did you say to me? Hey, I can say whatever I want." He wasn't yelling, but his voice sounded so angry and hateful it was scary.

Katelyn's voice matched his "So can I, and I said you should shut your mouth or go somewhere else 'cause none of us wanna hear it right now."

She stood and turned to face Dally. Their eyes met like two pieces of clashing metal. You could almost see the sparks flying. Everyone got real quiet, and you could hear the radio AND the TV quite well. If either of them had been facing anyone else, they would have belted them long before now. But Dally, as cold and tough as he was, didn't often hit girls, especially one that meant so much to us. Katelyn must've thought that if she swung at Dally, it'd just give him an excuse to swing back, and she was probably right. So they stood there, the tension rising and their anger fuming. And then Steve did something so stupid he can never say I'm scatterbrained again.

Steve actually walked up behind Dally and touched his shoulder. "Hey Dal, why don't you..." Dally turned and flattened him and then walked coolly out the front door.

Everyone stood still. Almost like we were frozen in place. Then Katelyn headed towards the front door. She stopped by Steve and looked down, "Way to go Hot Shot." And then she was gone.

I would have laughed if the whole thing hadn't been so serious.


	8. Chapter 8

**Pony's POV**

As soon as I got home from school I started my homework. It was Thursday afternoon and I thought that if I could get enough work done tonight, then maybe I wouldn't have anything to do tomorrow and I could have a free weekend. There wasn't anything else to do tonight anyway. It had started raining sometime last night and hadn't let up since.

_x + 2(x-5) 3 - x(x+1)_

The problem wasn't that hard, but my mind wouldn't concentrate. I kept worrying about what Rachel had said about court. I knew she must have talked to Darry and Soda about taking me, but I wondered if she had actually mentioned court to them. I could ask. What if she really did try to take us to court? But what if she didn't? I didn't want to say anything to them if she was just playing me.

I heard Soda fling open the front door. "I wish we could get the day off when it rains too," he remarked to Darry.

"Did you get your paycheck today?" Darry asked. He always seemed so blunt and to-the-point.

"No, I'll get it tomorrow. Why?"

Darry let out a sigh. "We have so many bills. I don't understand how Dad made it."

"Getting that bad?" I knew Sodapop didn't really like thinking about bills and making things work.

"Yeah. I'm thinking about taking a second job."

"I might could get a few more hours." Soda must not have been any more fond of the idea than I was. Darry already worked too much.

"Guess we'll get something worked out."

"_They can't afford to keep you anymore. Do you really think that Darry has the time and money to worry about going to court?"_

Aunt Rachel's words flooded my mind again. What if she _did_ take us to court. Then I would really be a bother to Darry. Maybe he would let me get a job. I could work after school, and the extra money would be nice. I decided I would ask him, but right now I wanted to finish this math.

I had just finished when Soda called out "Supper's ready."

He was setting the food on the table as Darry and I sat down. Garlic bread, salad, and…..spaghetti? At least, it sort of resembled spaghetti. But it was covered in a brown, goopy sauce.

"Um…Maybe I shouldn't ask but, what is THAT?" Darry asked hesitantly.

"For your information, that is spaghetti. Just not your run-of-the-mill spaghetti." Soda's chin jutted into the air. "It's high class."

"High class or not, it sure doesn't look very appetizing." I remarked.

Soda reached across the table and placed his hand over my eyes. "Don't look at it then, just enjoy."

I felt the prongs of a fork next to my mouth. "Sodapop Patrick…"

"Just TRY it."

I didn't really have a choice because when I opened my mouth to protest, the spaghetti was in. It actually wasn't that bad, if you happened to like sweet spaghetti.

He pulled his hand away from my eyes. "See? It wasn't that bad."

Darry looked at me amused. "What's it taste like Pony?"

"Chocolate."

"Chocolate?" Darry raised his eyebrows at Soda.

"What's wrong with chocolate?" Soda scowled. "It's not MY fault we're out of spaghetti sauce."

Darry took a small bite. "Well, nothing I guess. It's not bad, but what's wrong with butter and parmesan cheese?"

Soda's face lit up with pride. "You guys would die of boredom if I wasn't around."

That was probably true. Our lives would be pretty dull without Sodapop. I looked over at Darry. He was grinning too, so I figured now was as good a time as any to ask about getting a job.

I took a deep breath started before I lost my nerve. "Darry, can I get a job at the Tastee Freeze?"

"No." Just like that. He didn't pause, didn't think about it, didn't even look up at me. Well, I wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Why not? It would just be after school and on weekends. And I promise not to let my grades slip."

"No."

"Why? Sodapop would let me, wouldn't you Soda?"

It looked like Soda was going to say something, but Darry answered for him. "Well I'm not Sodapop, and you're not getting a job. You need to concentrate on your school."

"I said I wouldn't let my grades slip. You're not being fair Darry." That wasn't really a smart thing for me to say. You should never accuse Darry of not being fair.

He locked eyes with me. "No. Period."

**Johnny's POV**

My parents had gotten in another big fight, cussing and screaming. When they started blaming me for everything they weren't happy about, I decided I better get out before they started pounding on me too. I found Katelyn and Ponyboy in the Lot. Neither of them were in a good mood either, so we just walked around aimlessly, not saying anything. The rain had finally stopped and a cool mist rose up from the concrete.

"Well, ain't you a cheerful bunch." Dallas and Two-Bit came up behind us.

Dally grabbed my cigarette and took a long puff. "Geez, you'd think your world was ending. What's wrong with you guys anyway?"

"We're fine Dal." Ok, so maybe it wasn't true, but so what. They didn't really want to hear all our gripes. What did they know anyway. Dally was too hard to understand problems and Two-Bit's solution always came from a bottle.

"They're a bunch of no good Greasers. That's what the problem is." Two-Bit sounded half-drunk.

"They sure ain't worth hanging out with right now. Let's go find some real action." Dally pulled on Two-Bit's arm.

As they headed off Two-Bit turned around and called "You need to get some money, become big time. Then you can go around jumping punks instead of being 'em. Give you some joy in life."

Katelyn stiffened and I could see her fists clinch by her side. "I ain't never becoming' a big time. There's no way! I'd rather die."

"You got that right." Pony bit out. "Stupid Soc. Think they own everything and everyone. Well they don't. I'm not going to let them walk over me. No way."

Glory. I wondered what brought that on, but I didn't ask. If they felt like telling me their problems, they would.


	9. Chapter 9

Aunt Rachel lived in a huge, white house with a manicured lawn. The inside was lavishly furnished, but it felt hard and cold. As I headed down the long hall to my room, it seemed to echo with each step. My room here was twice as big as my old room and was as luxurious as the rest of the house, but I hated it. I'd been here three weeks already, but I still couldn't get used to it.

I was so exhausted from working and staying up late to study that I just dropped onto the bed, which also seemed twice as big as the one I had at home. Maybe it was because I wasn't sharing this one with anyone. The thought brought tears to my eyes. I really missed Sodapop.

"You're not going to cry." I told myself. "You need to be doing your homework, not thinking about home." But I was too tired to move and fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming about the last day before I had to come here.

_Darry was facing me, his hands on his hips. "We won't be able to visit you. We don't have any money left after going through court. It's your fault you know."_

"_Why didn't you just give me up then?" _

"_Soda wouldn't let me." Darry sneered. Almost laughed._

_I looked over at Soda. "Then maybe it's Sodapop's fault."_

_Soda leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "Hey, don't blame me kid. If you had made yourself useful, then maybe things would have been different. You should have gotten a job."_

"_But Darry said I couldn't." _

"_Then maybe it's his fault." Was Soda's reply_

_Darry opened the front door. "Rachel's here, just go. If we ever get a chance, we might come see you."_

"_No." Rachel's husband, Mark, had come with her. He started dragging me out of the house. "NO! Soda don't make me go. SODA!"_

I woke up sweating. I'd had lots of dreams since I came to Rachel's, but none of them had been that bad. Darry and Soda hadn't really wanted me to go, but after the court ruling, they'd had no choice. After the court ruling, my life had been turned upside down. Not only had my parents been ripped away, but now my brothers had too.

I rolled off the bed and headed for the door. I was running away. Even if I couldn't go back and stay with my brothers, I wasn't staying here. I crept down the hall and slowly opened the front door.

"Ponyboy. Where are you going?" Rachel's voice had a creepy, sing-songish tone. It gave me the chills. "I need you." Then her voice turned hard. "You brothers don't want you anyway. You don't have anywhere to go."

"Shut up! They do so want me. You're a liar." I took off running. Rachel was running after me. So was her dog, a huge Rottweiler named Roman. Then I heard sirens. I didn't know what they would do if they caught me, but I sure didn't want to find out.

The faster I tried to run, the slower I went. My feet pounded, my breath came in short gasps, the sirens got closer. Roman closer. Rachel got closer, her voice mocking "You can't get away Ponyboy. Ponyboy. Ponyboy."

"Ponyboy." It was Soda's voice.

I sat up with a gasp. Sweat trickled down my forehead and I heard sirens blaring in the distance. I was in _my_ bed this time, and Soda was there next to me. His hand was on my shoulder.

As he brushed my hair out of my eyes he whispered. "You ok?"

I managed to nod.

"Was it that nightmare again? Can you remember it this time?"

I could definitely remember it, but it wasn't the same nightmare I'd had before. Not the one he was talking about. I didn't want to tell Soda about this one because then I would have to tell him about Rachel's threat.

I laid back down and snuggled under Soda's arm. There was absolutely no way I would _ever_ go live with Aunt Rachel. I didn't care what she said.

**Johnny's POV**

Two-Bit and Katelyn were already waiting as Ponyboy and I neared his house. Somehow, they had managed to scurry ahead of us after school. Both were in a crazy mood.

Two-Bit opened the mailbox and retrieved it's contents. He stroked his jaw with his thumb and forefinger "Hmmm, very interesting indeed."

Pony rolled his eyes at me and strode over to Two-Bit "Don't you know, reading someone else's mail is a federal offense."

"As much as he's over here, you'd think the house was his, as well as the mail." Katelyn retorted.

"That may be, but I'd prefer to look through my own mail, thank you very much." Pony grabbed the mail from Two-Bit and headed inside.

While Katelyn and Two-Bit helped themselves to drinks, Pony started flipping through the mail. "I should have just let you have it. Ain't nothing worth keeping anyway."

Two-Bit pulled his head from the refrigerator, "See? I was only trying to be helpful."

As Pony reached the bottom of the stack, he suddenly froze and his face paled. Two-Bit and Katelyn were too busy messing around to notice as Pony stuffed the envelope into his book and headed off to his room.

I followed behind him, concerned "Everything ok Ponyboy?"

His books landed with a thud on his desk. "Sure. Why?"

"Oh," I gave a little shrug, "I just…you've just seemed a little upset the last few days. Does it have anything to do with Rachel being here that day?"

Pony seemed a little startled at my question but he tried not to show it. "Don't worry about me Johnnycake."

I started to ask what was in the envelope when I was interrupted by a loud:

"_OW!" CRASH GASP _and then an unusual silence.

"Come on Johnny, before Katelyn and Two-Bit tear the house down."

The culprits were both sitting on the couch as if nothing had happened, but "Guilty" was etched all over their faces.

"What was that crash?"

Katelyn batted her eyelashes at Ponyboy in feigned innocence. "Crash? What crash? Did you hear a crash Two-Bit?"

"Um, no…NO!. I did not hear a crash." Two-Bit's acting wasn't nearly as convincing as Katelyn's. He should have quit while he was ahead, but he continued in a staged, robotic voice "And neither do I know why that picture frame is on the floor." Which resulted in an elbow to his ribs and a stern "Shut up" from Katelyn.

My gaze followed Pony's to the used-to-be picture frame which now lay smashed on the floor.

They were saved when Soda threw open the door and sauntered in, Steve right behind.

"Did you get the mail?" We would have been able to hear him anywhere in the house.

"Yeah, I got the mail" Two-Bit was quick to switch topics, "But uh, that kid brother of yours didn't trust me or something."

"I'm not sure I would either." Soda answered him, before facing Pony. "Where'd you put it? Did we get anything important?"

"Eh, it was just a bunch of junk mail. I threw it all away." Pony shrugged indifferently.

All junk mail huh? Since when did Pony get scared by junk mail and hide it in his school books? I didn't believe that, but I decided not to say anything. It wasn't really my business anyway and I didn't want Pony to get in trouble.

Steve must have noticed the pile of glass and twisted metal on the floor. "What happened over there?"

Two-Bit sat straight as a pin and folded his hands in his lap, "Neither do I know what happened to the picture frame." He repeated again in his robotic voice.

Katelyn slapped the back of his head and slouched back into the couch. "You are the worst actor I have EVER seen."


	10. Chapter 10

**Pony's POV**

Sunday morning was bright and windy and, according to Two-Bit, the perfect day to play football.

"It's way to windy to play football. You'd never be able to throw a straight pass." I objected, but went and retrieved the football from my closet anyway.

Steve leaned his elbow on Two-Bit's shoulder and grinned, "And you think he can throw a straight pass on a calm day?"

This provoked a few laughs before Soda added, "Yeah, maybe this will actually help. Come on, we're gonna need you."

I couldn't. I needed to stay and think, but my head already pounded from trying to figure things out and my stomach had more knots than I had thought was possible. I wanted to throw up, wanted to curl into a ball…..wanted Mom and Dad to be alive again.

"Well, are you coming or not?"

Dally stood by the door, waiting for my reply. I noticed that everyone else had already left. "No."

"Suit yourself."

As soon as he was gone I crossed over to my bookshelf and reached for my science book. It fell opened and I took out the envelope I had hid from Soda and Darry on Friday. The court summons began:

"Darrel Shayne Curtis is required to appear in court on April 15. Davis vs. Curtis in the case of custody regarding Ponyboy Michael Curtis."

The letter continued on. It sure looked like a real court summons. Not that I had seen one before, but it looked all proper and legal. There was even a return form that Darry was supposed to fill out.

I thought back to yesterday's conversation with Dally.

"_Dally, what happens if you don't show up for court?"_

"_They can lock you up for a while, or charge you some outrageous fine."_

"_What if you can't pay the fine?"_

"_Then you get locked up. Why, are you in trouble or something?"_

I sunk down to the floor and pulled my knees to my chest. I had two options. I could tell Darry and Soda, dragging them through court and probably spending every dime we had. Or, I could run away with Katelyn and not tell them anything. Then Darry would probably get jailed and Soda would get stuck in a home somewhere.

Neither option sounded too pleasant. If only Darry would let me get a job, that might help.

"_I can get you a job."_ It was Rachel's voice again.

"_You could make lots of money."_

Shut up!

"_They can't afford to keep you."_

NO! NO WAY!

I wanted to rip the letter to shreds, then I could mail all the little pieces back to Rachel. But that wouldn't help.

Running wasn't going to help, and neither was hiding it from Darry and Soda. I'd have to tell them. I'd have to get yelled at for not telling them before. I'd have to disappoint Darry. Again.

"_Show Darry you're useful for once. Let him get on with his life."_

I flung my book across the room and watched it slam against the wall and pretended the wall was Rachel's face. She was making things so unfair.

It was late afternoon when the gang returned. They bounded in through the door, laughing and goofing off. When I saw Darry approach the couch where I was lying, my heart froze.

I wanted him to ask what was wrong. I wanted to have him tell me everything would be ok. That he would take care of me. That he wanted me, _needed_ me.

But he just glared down at me and said, "You didn't lie there all day did you?"

Actually, I had. I had tried reading and watching TV to get my mind off the problem, but nothing had worked and I had ended up just lying here most of the afternoon.

"You could have picked up the house a little." I watched absently as he crossed his arms and glanced around the house. "Done the dishes maybe."

As Darry continued lecturing me, everyone else grew silent. "I bet you didn't even work on your homework did you?"

Soda stepped up next to Darry. "So maybe he wanted a day off. That's not a crime is it?"

"He has to start pulling his weight around here."

Suddenly all the fear and anxiety I'd had that afternoon turned into rage. Darry had no right to yell at me in front of everyone. If he didn't want me, then fine.

I stormed into my room and picked up the phone. "Hello Rachel? This is Ponyboy. When can you come get me?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Darry's POV**

Since I got off work early I decided to stop by the DX to try and catch Soda before he left. It took me a minute to find him, crouched behind a car doing something with the tire. He didn't see me at first either. The car looked like it belonged to a real tough Hood, so I decided to take a gamble. I kicked at the tire next to Soda and lowered my voice "Ain't you got my car done yet?"

Soda jumped up and spun to look at me. A slow grin spread over my face. I had gambled right.

"Oh, hey Darry." His voice was a little shaky. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you, when do you get off?"

"I just have to finish this real quick, and then tell Steve I'm done. Won't take me long."

I leaned back against the pump and watched as he finished what he was doing and ran inside to talk to Steve.

He came back out and we headed home. Before I had a chance to say anything he piped up "You look pretty beat. Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

I couldn't help chuckling a little. Soda was definitely a wise-crack and like to keep things on the light side, but he was very observant. If something was going on with me or Ponyboy, he'd be the first to notice and try to help.

"I didn't get much sleep last night. I was kind of worried about Ponyboy." After I had confronted Pony, he'd spent the rest of the evening in his room, and I had left for work before he or Soda woke up this morning.

"I was wondering if you got to talk to him this last night or this morning?" I studied Soda's face as he responded

"No. He was asleep by the time I got to bed last night, and…" He squinted his eyes and I could tell he was trying to come up with the right words. "He didn't want to talk today. Something's really got him preoccupied. I'm gonna try and talk to him tonight."

I hoped he could. I really wanted to know what was bothering Ponyboy, but I never could get him to tell me much. He used to tell me things, but never as much as he told Sodapop.

Soda was as worried as I was, but he had us both in stitches by the time we got home. When we entered the house though, we both froze instantly. Pony was carrying two large suitcases into the living room.

What was that boy thinking now? "Ponyboy Curtis, what are you doing?" Soda put his hand on my shoulder and I realized my words had come out pretty forcefully.

His, on the other hand, were light and joking. "What's with the suitcases Ponyboy? Did you decide you didn't like sharing a room with me after all?"

Pony's answer was a mumbled "Aunt Rachel's coming to pick me up."

I shot Soda an inquisitive glance. Had I heard right? Aunt Rachel was…. "What are you talking about Pony?"

"I'm staying with Rachel for a while." This time his voice was more daring. Like, he had made a decision and we weren't going to change it.

Soda was completely perplexed and evidently at a temporary loss for words so I spoke up again. "Why? Why would you want to go live with her?"

"Because I have to."

"You don't have…."

I was interrupted by Rachel bustling in "Hurry up Ponyboy, we don't have much time."

_You don't have much manners either_ I thought angrily. Weren't rich people supposed to be couth and polite? Well we would be, even if they weren't. "I'm really sorry Rachel, but there must be some mistake, Ponyboy's not going with you."

"Oh come now Darryl, I assure you there's been no mistake, has there Ponyboy?"

Pony didn't look at her, just bit his lip and shrugged.

"There now, you see Darryl? He is coming with me. Are those the only suitcases you have Ponyboy? Are there more in your room? Did you get all your school books?"

My frustration was growing. What on earth did Pony think he was doing? I couldn't just let him walk out of here with her, not my kid brother. But I had no idea how to stop him, short of physically restraining him. And why on earth was Sodapop just standing there? Why wasn't he helping me?

"Then we're off. Darryl, you and Sodapop can come see him sometimes," And with that she was out the door and headed for her car.

_Now just a minute Darrel Shayne Curtis Jr. You're not really going to let her just prance in here all high and mighty and whisk off with your baby brother are you?_ I shook my head in defiance. No way was I going to do that. As Ponyboy walked passed me I reached over and grabbed one of the suitcases. "I think we need to talk Pony."

He jerked away. "I have to go."

"Why?"

"I just have to." He spoke through clinched teeth.

What was happening must have finally sunk in to Soda. He broke out of his daze and sprinted down the steps after Ponyboy.

Now it was my turn to stand still. If anyone was going to be able to talk Pony out of this ridiculous notion, it would be Sodapop.

Pony's hands were shoved into his pockets and his eyes focused on his shoes. Soda was talking to him in a low voice so I couldn't hear what he was saying. Pony kept shaking his head and refused to look up. Soda's face was becoming more and more depressed with each shake.

Rachel blasted the horn on her car. If she had been anyone other than Dad's sister, I would have planted my fist on her face - woman or not. She had no right to come over here, void of any resemblance of politeness, and take off with my brother.

I caught Soda's last plea, "Don't. We love you Pony." And even though I was still on the porch, I could see tears forming in his eyes.

"I HAVE to." Was all Pony responded as he stiffened coldly and hoped into the backseat of Rachel's car.

As Rachel pulled off, I noticed Katelyn and Dally standing in our yard and wondered how long they had been there.

Katelyn spoke up first, "What's he doing?"

I breathed in deeply as I stepped off the porch. Did _I_ really know what he was doing? "Uh, I'm not real sure."

Katelyn continued on. "Why did he have suitcases? He's not staying with her is he? There's no way Pony would stay with a Soc." With that she spit on the ground where Rachel's car had been.

Dally lit up a cigarette. "Filthy little traitor."

That wasn't real smart to say but then, Dallas Winston usually spoke his mind whether it was smart or not. Soda sprang forward and blackened Dally's eye before I caught him.

"I think you better leave now." I said, while Dally was still a little stunned. He didn't normally back down from a fight but Katelyn was tugging on his arm and Soda and I were both in pretty dangerous moods.

I pulled Soda back into the house.

"WHAT'S GOING ON DARRY? WHY IS HE GOING WITH RACHEL? WHAT HAPPENED? HE CAN'T JUST GO! WHY?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH US?"

Soda was screaming aloud what my mind screamed silently. How had we just allowed our baby brother to get into a car with a rotten, no-good Soc and drive off. What kind of brothers were we?

"I HATE you Rachel!" He grabbed the chair nearest to him and flung it over. Then he turned and slammed his fist into the wall. I wasn't sure if I had ever seen him so angry. "HE'S NOT A TRAITOR DARRY!" He pounded the wall again and then crumbled. The tears he'd been trying to hold back streamed down his face.

Outwardly I was standing silently, but inwardly I was as much of a mess as Sodapop. I felt like I was exploding. After all, I was only 20. I couldn't do this. I couldn't handle all this responsibility.

"Darry." Soda's voice was so soft I almost didn't hear.

He looked up at me with eyes filled with confusion and sorrow and need. Everything that I felt. "Yeah Little Buddy?"

"I need him, Darry." His voice became even softer. "I need you."

"_I need you. I need you." _Echoed over in my mind and filled me with new strength and resolve. I slid down and wrapped my arm around his shoulders.

"I need you too Pepsi Cola…you AND Pony."

Neither of us spoke for a while. What was there to say? Everything had happened so fast and I still had no idea why it had happened. But I did know one thing, and Soda needed to know it too.

"Pony's going to come back Soda." I turned his face to look at me. "And everything's going to be ok. Maybe he just needs some time to figure things out." I was talking to myself as much as I was to him. Everything HAD to be ok.

"Now come on, I'm hungry and supper's not going to fix itself."


	12. Chapter 12

**Pony's POV **

The hour and a half drive to Oklahoma City seemed more like five. Rachel attempted to start conversations with me several times before figuring out I wasn't interested in talking. Soda's face kept flashing in my mind. I had tried not to look at him, or Darry, for this very reason. But I had seen the tears in Soda's eyes, and even more, heard them in his voice.

"_At least tell me why you're going."_ He'd pleaded with me. Man, I hated myself for not telling him, but I would have hated myself more if I had. We'd already been through court once, when Darry got legal custody of us, and it had been hell. There was no way I was going to drag Soda through that again.

"_Don't…We love you Pony."_ I squeezed my eyes shut against his words. When I opened them, we were pulling up to Rachel's house.

It wasn't quite what I had imagined. It was fairly big and had a huge wrap-around porch and a meticulous lawn. The inside was fancy and neat to a pin, but it actually had a homey feel to it.

As I glanced around I noticed that Rachel had quite a few pictures out. Some were of her and Uncle Mark, but there were also a lot of her and Dad when they were younger. She even had a picture of my family - before I was born. Darry was probably five, which made Soda two.

I wondered why she had kept the pictures out all these years. Or maybe she had put them out for me. I shuddered at the thought.

"Your room will be up here." Rachel broke into my thoughts.

I followed her up the curved staircase to the room straight across from the stairs. No long hallway, and no big bed. Actually, the room wasn't much bigger than the one Soda and I shared.

We stood there awkwardly. "When can I start working?"

"Monday. If you want." Rachel paused and fiddled with the side of her skirt. "You don't have to work you know."

"Why else would I have come here?" My words were biting.

She looked hurt and her eyes trailed passed me to the dresser.

I followed her gaze to the dresser. On it sat a frame with the words "Family lasts Forever" across the top. The picture was one of her with Darry and Soda. She had caught them and was starting to tickle Darry. All three were laughing and their eyes were sparkling.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour. I expect you to be on time." Rachel's voice was rough again, but she still looked sad and hurt.

As she glided back down the steps I realized, for the first time, that Rachel had feelings too. Maybe I would be able to find the woman that Dad had known. The side of her that he had cared for so deeply.

**Katelyn's POV**

The mood at the Curtis house was much more muted than it normally was. Ponyboy's decision had left a thick blanket of tension. Darry and Soda sat at the table reading the paper. Since when Soda started reading the paper, I'm not sure. He was probably more lost in his thoughts than anything,

I was perched carefully on the arm of the couch. Johnny and Steve lounged with me in front of the TV, making occasional comments about what we were watching. Last night I had found them in the Lot and filled them in on what had happened. I hadn't seen Two-Bit, but I figured he'd be here before too long.

True to my prediction, Two-Bit made his entrance with a bang. As far as I knew, he still didn't have a clue about what went on yesterday. His grin proved my point.

"Keith Matthews, when are you going to learn to close that door right?" Darry snapped from across the room.

At the sound of his full name, Two-Bit threw his hands up innocently, "Whoa-hoa, what's got you all huffed out of shape?"

When no one answered him, he blew off the remark with a shrug. He must have thought he could find us something more interesting on TV because he started flipping through the channels without asking if anyone minded. "I uh, just saw ol' Dal around Shepherd's place. What happened to his eye? It's quite a shiner."

What happened yesterday wasn't really a subject any of us wanted to bring up around Soda or Darry. As he waited for a response he continued looking for something that caught his attention. After two rounds of browsing, he gave up and left some talk show blaring.

He turned around and faced us, "Y'all sure are a bunch of sour pickles tonight. Are you gonna tell me what I missed?"

"Dally made some smart remark and Soda lost it." Steve glanced sideways at Soda, trying to read his reaction. He just kept his head in the paper.

"You did that, Soda? You must have been madder than a swarm of wet hens."

I wondered if anyone else was catching Two-Bit's misquoted idioms. Ponyboy would have. He probably would have played along, so I decided I would give it a try. "Yeah, he was so mad he could have tackled a whole flock of Soc."

"Flock, Katelyn?" Two-Bit furrowed his eyebrows.

Ok, so maybe I wasn't as good at it as he and Pony were. "Would you prefer I call them a herd?"

He cocked his head to the side. "Pony oughta be in on this discussion. Where is the kid anyway?"

"He went off to live with that rich aunt of his." Steve's voice dripped with contempt. His initial reaction had been fairly similar to Dally's, but thankfully Soda hadn't been there to hear him.

"What?" Two-Bit frowned momentarily and then started laughing.. "Shoot, you almost had me there, but you can't fool me that easily. Pony wouldn't do something like that."

"Well he did. That's what you get for hiding all day."

Apparently he still didn't believe us. "What's this nut talking about Darry? Did Pony really go off with that no good…" He stopped himself short when Soda looked up. Two-Bit acted crazy and scatterbrained, but he thought pretty straight sometimes.

Darry looked over the top of the paper. "Don't get all uptight, we're going to get him this weekend."

I could hear the concern in Johnny's voice as he spoke up timidly, "You're letting him stay until the weekend?"

"I wanted to call him, but Darry thinks he may need to cool off and get things straightened out a little. Or something like that." Judging from the look Darry received, I figured Soda didn't much agree with his big brother. They had probably argued about it.

"He needs to clear his head, and besides, neither of us can exactly take the day off work and risk losing our jobs just to go get him." Darry always had logical answers for things. No wonder he usually won out over Soda or Pony.

Two-Bit rose and headed for the kitchen, probably to find some chocolate cake. "I hear Katelyn's gonna be joining him pretty soon."

I jerked my head up as my thoughts raced. Who had told him that? Or was he just teasing me again? Regardless, it rubbed me the wrong way.

"I'm not ever becoming a Soc. I just want to stay around here with y'all and I want things to go back to normal with me and my Dad, but nooooooooo, he wants to move to the west side." I spat out the words and the room grew silent. I watched as Two-Bit's face dropped. They must not have known. Well now they did so I might as well get it off my chest.

"But there's no way I'm moving there, even if my Dad does." I wrapped my arms tightly around my knees.

"When did you find out?" Johnny's voice was soft and his eyes were confused. I mentally kicked myself for not telling him sooner. I was going to tell him eventually….but certainly not like this.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not going with him." Since I was confessing, I might as well go all the way. "I'm thinking about running away"

"Oh sure you are." Steve half-heartedly patted my shoulder. "Hey Two-Bit, bring me some cake."

"I am. You just wait and see." My gaze wondered passed Steve and met with Johnny's.

"Where you going to run to?" The look on his face changed from confusion to pleading.

I hated seeing that look on his face, but at least he was taking me seriously. "I don't know yet."

"You can come stay with me. My mom wouldn't care, and my little sis would love it." Two-Bit returned with the cake and sat down with his back against the TV.

Steve reached for his piece, "Stupid, if she stayed around here, her dad would find her."

"Then I'll go somewhere far away. You just wait and see." I stated matter-of-factly.

Darry folded the newspaper. "And that's gonna get you what you want?"

"Well……" I thought about that for a minute. What could I say? He was right. In one sentence, Darry made me understand how foolish my idea had been.

"Well what?" Steve gave me a shove and I toppled to the floor.

That broke the tension and everyone burst out laughing. I stood up, intending to act upset, but who could when even Johnny was chuckling.


	13. Chapter 13

**Pony's POV**

As soon as the bell rang signaling the end of class, I beat it out of there. When I came here with Rachel, I'd had the foolish hope that I would be able to talk her out of sending me to school. Boy was I wrong. Not only did she insist I go to school, she insisted I go to a _private_ school. At least 75 of the kids were Soc. The rest were middle class. I stuck out like a sore thumb.

I had only been here two days but I'd already received numerous threatening glances and remarks. These kids weren't any happier about me being here than I was, so I tried to stay out of their way.

Work was waiting for me as soon as school was over anyway, which gave me an added excuse. I hurried over to the office where Uncle Mark worked. He actually wasn't here this week because he was on some business trip.

It sounded like he was gone an awful lot. Rachel talked big and had lots of "friends" but she seemed pretty lonely most of time. I think she missed Mark a lot.

My work wasn't all that interesting, but it wasn't hard either. I helped file paper work and did whatever odd and end errand jobs the clients wanted me to do. When everyone went home at 6:00 I stayed and helped one of the ladies clean the offices. She was scared to death of me and tried to avoid me as much as possible, which I found amusing. I'd never done anything to her.

Saturdays and Sundays I was supposed to help out with some repair projects that needed to be done around the building. It was all fair enough, and it paid well too. I was making more than Soda, maybe even more than Darry. Guess that's what it's like when you're on the rich side.

By the time I left, the sky was that real dark, deep blue that wasn't quite black yet. I breathed in deeply of the cool air and smiled. My enthrallment with the sky and breeze didn't last very long as I noticed a shadow detached itself from the building and approached me.

"Hey Greaser." The chill in his voice made my blood run cold. I had heard that tone before.

I took off running. Or, I wanted to but my feet wouldn't move. Instead, my eyes stayed fixed on the huge figure approaching me. He wasn't dressed well enough to be a Soc, but he wasn't dressed like a hood either. He must be in some kind of gang. One that wasn't too fond of Greaser no less.

As he stepped up within a few feet of me, I realized just how big he was. He didn't look much older than Darry, but he was definitely bigger. In fact, I think he would have made Darry look like a dwarf. Not a good thing in my book.

He narrowed his eyes, "What are you doing on this side of town, Kid?"

_Think Pony_. But my brain didn't want to think. How was I supposed to answer that? I remembered what Dally and Two-Bit had always said about acting cool so I pulled out a weed and lit up. "I'm…helping my aunt."

"Don't lie to me kid. People around here don't need help from Greaser punks like you."

I puffed slow, trying hard not to show my fear. "Mine does."

My feet were cooperating now and I found myself starting to walk off. Instantly he had my arm in a death grip. His hands were huge and I knew there was no way I could pull out of his grasp. My heart slammed into my chest as he leaned his face close to mine.

"What's stopping me from teaching you to stay where you belong?"

This guy may beat the life out of me, but I wasn't going to let him see my fear. I summoned every ounce of courage I had and looked him straight in the eye. "Nothing." My voice was even and cool. Dally would have been proud.

I was expecting to get cussed out. I was expecting a blow to my face or my gut. To get kicked or thrown up against the wall. I was expecting a lot of things, but I was definitely NOT expecting what happened next.

The guy released my arm and started laughing. "You're an alright kid."

To say I was stunned would be an understatement. Where had that come from?

"Name's Jasper." I stared at the hand he extended. Did I want to befriend this guy? Did I want to NOT befriend him?

I grasped his hand as firmly as I could manage, "I'm Ponyboy," my voice squeaked. Blast it. My voice had done most of it's changing, but it was still uncooperative sometimes.

Jasper didn't seem to notice. "Where ya headed?"

"Home." The word caught in my throat and almost didn't make it out. It was all I cared to say right then. I turned and began walking again.

I could hear his heavy steps beside me. What _did _this guy want? Maybe he wanted me in his gang or something.

"What really brings you out this way?"

"As I said, I'm helping my aunt."

"And I still don't believe that's the only reason. But then again, it really isn't any of my business now is it? Where are you from?"

I found myself more and more at ease. This burly guy seemed all bark and no bite. He reminded me of Buck. "I'm from Tulsa."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of it. Been there a few times. Would you happen to know a guy named - uh - Dallas Winston?"

"Yeah. I know Dal. We're pretty good buddies."

"Yeah? Well next time you see him, you tell him I said hey. If he gets a chance, he oughta come look me up."

I came to an abrupt hault as I realized we were about to pass Rachel's house. Jasper almost collided with me. "How do you know Dal?"

"Let's just say we spent some time together."

In jail no doubt. "What are you doing over here?"

"That's a pretty long story."

"I better be getting in. It was nice to meet you Jasper."

"You too. Word of advice for ya - If you wanna keep your head attached, try dressing a little better."

I got defensive. "What kind of advice is that? I ain't ashamed of being a Greaser."

"I'm not saying you are, but I don't really see the purpose in proclaiming it with flashing lights." He gave me a grin and a pat on the back, "Just trying to be a friend. You may need one around here."

As he ambled off, I thought about that. Maybe that was why he was dressed a little nicer. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to spruce up just a bit. Not to look like a Soc, but a little more middle class maybe. After all, I was way out of my league and I didn't have a gang here to back me up.


	14. Chapter 14

**Pony's POV**

The next morning I took extra long in the shower trying to get all the grease out of my hair. I stood in front of the mirror, wearing khaki pants and a button up shirt Rachel had bought me. _I don't look like a Soc, I don't look like a Soc. I don't_….Who was I kidding?

I pulled the khakis off in disgust and slid my jeans back on. I rummaged through the closet a little more and finally found a blue plaid shirt. It definitely was NOT my style, but it wasn't quite so rich looking.

Just then I heard scraping outside my door followed by a soft whine. I had to smile as I opened the door and a little white ball came bounding in. Princess was Rachel's toy poodle a far cry from the rottweiler I had dreamed about. She was full of energy and life and had grabbed hold of my heart the first day.

"Sit Princess." I commanded, partly because I could and partly because I wanted her to stop bounding under my feet. She sat at rapt attention, her little tail still thumping the ground.

Princess knew more tricks than any dog I'd ever seen and I found it rather fun to help her show off. "Dance Princy." She shot up onto her back legs and began prancing around the room.

"Freeze." I enjoyed seeing how long she could stand on her hind legs before she fell. Quite a while usually. Watching her reminded me of how Two-Bit had gone on and on about getting a dog that one day. That day Rachel had first come by to talk to Darry and Soda.

My countenance fell and Princess fell with it. My shoulders drooped as I plopped onto the bed. Princess slunk over and began whining, probably wondering what she had done to make me stop paying attention to her.

"It's not your fault Princy." I muttered as I scooped her up and planted a kiss on her head.

"Ponyboy! You're going to be late! Come on!"

At the sound of Rachel's voice, Princess struggled to get down. I placed her on the floor and watched as she bounded out of the room. If only I could have that much energy.

I shot myself another quick look in the mirror and wrinkled my nose. I still thought I looked horrible but I couldn't do much about it now.

**Soda's POV**

I flew over to the ice box and took a swig from the milk carton. I was starving, but there was no time for breakfast. I'd barely had time for a shower.

"Come on Soda, hurry up or we'll both be late." Steve was by the front door, urging me on.

"I'm trying Steve, I just have to find my shoes."

He gave me an exasperated look. I couldn't help it that my shoes had a way of disappearing every night. And I couldn't help it that Darry had decided not to wake me up this morning. When Steve came to pick me up for work, I was still sound asleep, which was because I hadn't gotten to sleep until sometime after 3:00 this morning. It was hard to sleep without Pony beside me.

The clock stuck 8:00 and I heard Steve groan. "Well, no need to hurry now buddy, we're already gonna get chewed out."

"It's not my fault Darry didn't wake me up." I snapped as I yanked my shirt off the back of the couch and fumbled with the buttons. "And you could try helping me look for my shoes. We still have five minutes" Mr. Hall always gave us a five minute grace period.

"Well aren't you Mr. Grumpy today."

I shot him a look that clearly said I wasn't in the mood.

"Fine, I'll help. But five minutes ain't too long"

When I finally reached the last button on my shirt I realized it didn't have a hole. Blast it. I began furiously trying to unbutton the thing when Steve started laughing. "Need some help there? We only have two more minutes you know"

He had made no effort whatsoever to look for my shoes. "Just go." I mumbled, giving up on my shirt for the time being. "No need for both of us to be late."

"No, I'll wait." Steve Randall was a real good buddy. I decided that it wasn't fair for him to get yelled at because of me.

"Go! Go! Go!. Tell Mr. Hall I'll be there in a minute." I urged him out the door and then rushed down the hall to my room.

As I entered, I jammed my toe on the door and cried out in pain. Could this day possibly get any worse?

I hoped about on my good foot trying desperately to remember what I had done with my shoes last night. Let's see, I had….left them on until I got into bed so…I picked up the blanket that had fallen onto the floor and sighed with relief.

"Stupid shoes." I plopped onto the floor and winced as I yanked the left on onto my injured foot. Now where was the right shoe? It had to be nearby. I started to run my hand under the bed but pulled it back when it met with an inch of dust. When was the last time we had cleaned under there? Probably never.

My effort had at least resulted in bumping out the end of my shoe. The toe caught an old letter and pulled it out. Hmm, must have fallen off Pony's desk or something. There was no telling how long it had been under there.

I picked it up with the intention of placing it back on his desk when the envelope caught my attention. It was addressed to Darry. So why did Pony have it? And why was the return address from the Court of Tulsa, Oklahoma? My curiosity got the best of me and I pulled out the letter.

Everything in my world stood still as I read the letter through thoroughly and then thought it over. It finally all made sense. "Darry!" I hollered, running back down the hall. "Darry! You have to.." Oh yeah, Darry wasn't here. That was ok, I would just call Pony and then when Darry got home I could tell him everything was settled.

I could hardly contain my excitement as I went back through the letter until I found Rachel's phone number. The phone rang and rang and rang. Why wasn't anyone answering? After the 20th ring I slammed the receiver down in frustration. Instantly it rang and I jerked it up. "Ponyboy?"

"Um, no." It was Steve. "Haven't you found your shoes yet?"

"My shoes…?" What did Steve care about my shoes?

"Yeah, your shoes. And Mr. Hall wants to know why you haven't made it to work yet. It's 8:30"

"Work!" Soda you idiot! Of course no one was answering the phone. Pony was at school and Rachel was probably working.

"Yes, work. And you better hurry up Soda. I'm trying to make excuses for you, but it's getting a little hard."

"I'm leaving right now." I hung up the phone and rushed out the door.

Work? Who cared about work. And who cared about being late and getting chewed out? I knew what had been bothering Ponyboy. I knew why he had left! And since I knew, I could fix the problem! I would call Pony as soon as I got off.

Steve met me outside the DX station. "Sodapop Patrick Curtis! Look at you!"

"What?"

"Look at your shirt. You never re-buttoned it. And where on earth is your right shoe? What's wrong with you?"

I grinned at him sheepishly. "I'll go back and get it."

"No. Just fix your shirt. You don't have time to get your shoe, maybe Mr. Hall won't notice."

Just before I entered Mr. Hall's office something hit me. Why was Pony is school today if Steve wasn't? Maybe I had my days confused. I turned to Steve. "What day is it?"

He gave me a bewildered look. "Friday. Why?"

"How come you aren't in school?"

"Because it's teacher in-service day or something like that. Now GO!"


	15. Chapter 15

_Sorry this update took so long, we were out of state for a week and didn't get near a computer the whole time :-)_

**Darry's POV**

Work had been pretty rough. We had mountains to do and just about everything that could possibly go wrong did. I'd had a terrible time concentrating on anything because I kept worrying about Ponyboy. Why did he just up and leave like he did? I loved that kid but, shoot, I sure didn't understand him sometimes.

Somehow I managed to get off by 6:30 but blew a tire on some nails I'd put on the ground and forgotten about. And, of course, I didn't have a spare. We always kept a spare, but not today. Today we didn't have one. Whether someone stole it or Soda used it and forgot to tell me I didn't know. Either way, by the time I got home at 7:30 I was tired and frustrated.

As I got out of the truck and looked towards the house I knew instantly that something was up. Through the window I saw Soda inside pacing the floor, a lit cigarette in his hand. He kept looking at the clock and muttering to himself. I took a deep breath and mustered up the last of my energy that I was sure to need if I wanted to deal with whatever he was about to throw me.

I slammed the truck door and headed up the porch. Before I had a chance to reach for the handle, the door flung open and Soda collided with me. Undaunted, he began rambling about Ponyboy without stopping for a breath. I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying so I finally grabbed his shoulders.

"Sodapop! Calm down. And what is that paper you keep waving around?"

He shoved the paper at me and took a deep breath before continuing.

"I tried calling him but he was at work and he won't be home until 8:00 and, Darry, I can't wait that long!"

I took the paper inside and he followed me. "Have you read it yet?"

"No I haven't read it yet. You haven't given me a chance." What on earth had gotten into that boy? I took a seat on the couch and Soda came up behind me. I hated when people read over my shoulder.

"Sit down Soda, I can't read with you hovering over me like that."

He did as I requested and sat next to me - almost on top of me. I tried to focus on the letter. It looked official…a court summons? Before I could get any further the couch began to vibrate and I could feel Soda's breath on my neck. I glanced sideways and saw him bouncing his leg, his eyes fixed only inches from my face. Slowly I turned my head and met his gaze.

"Are you done?" His voice was mixed with excitement and nerves.

"No." Exasperated, I put my hand on his leg to stop the vibration. "Why don't you get us something to drink."

While he was gone I was able to find out what the letter was all about. Rachel wanted to take us to court to get custody of Ponyboy. That must have been why he left. But why hadn't he told us? I rubbed the back of my neck in effort to ward off the headache I was getting.

The clock chimed and I heard Soda exclaim "It's 8:00!" Then glasses clattered to the floor as he rushed into his room and picked up the phone.

I groaned and shook my head.

**Pony's POV**

It was almost 8:00 before I got back to Rachel's Friday evening. "Work always multiplies on Fridays," one of ladies at the office had remarked, and boy was it true. When I arrived there was a white, Chevy pickup parked next to Rachel's car that must belong to Mark.

Once inside, I could hear them talking in the back study. "Ponyboy is staying here? AND working at my office?" Apparently this was the first he'd heard of the matter and he didn't sound too pleased.

"Well, yes." I crept closer to the room so I could hear better. Darry would have accused me of eavesdropping, but they were talking about me so I figured I had right to know what they were saying.

"And you did all this without asking me? Why? Why would you bring him here?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"Oh brother." Mark's words mimicked how I felt. "I'll tell you straight up, I don't like it one bit."

Rachel got defensive. "Ponyboy is a very decent young man."

"You never know with boys like that. How'd you manage to get him here anyway? A kid like that doesn't just up and leave his neighborhood." The door was open just far enough for me to see Mark pacing in front of the bed where Rachel sat.

"I told him I'd take him to court."

Mark chuckled in disbelief. "And he _believed_ you?"

"I meant it. I even had the papers drawn up."

So it had been real. Rachel was actually planning to force us to go to court. I didn't understand how she could say she loved us when she was trying so hard to break us apart.

Suddenly the phone on the table next to me shrilled out, jerking me back to reality. I scrambled to the stairs, hoping not to get caught.

Rachel answered on the third ring. "I'm not sure. Let me see." She stuck her head around the corner and saw me heading up the stairs.

"He just came in, hold on just a second." She pulled the phone away from her ear. "It's for you Pony, you can use the phone upstairs if you want."

For me? Who would be calling me? I picked up the phone at the top of the stairs.

"Ponyboy!"

"Hey Sodapop." I really couldn't help but grin. He sounded like he'd just won a million dollars.

"How are you doing? We miss you."

I missed him too, but I didn't say that. "I'm ok. I've got a great job Soda"

He was silent for a minute and I wondered if Darry missed me too.

"Pony…I found the letter. You need to come home."

But I had the letter. It had been in my school books and….oh great, it must have fallen out when I picked them up. I slid the phone off the table and onto the floor. The cord was just long enough for me to sit inside my room and close the door.

"You found the summons?"

"She can't take you Pony. I'm gonna come get you"

"No! Darry doesn't want me. I'm just in the way there. But here…"

"What?!" He sounded shocked, like the thought had never occurred to him before.

"Rachel said that Darry told her to take me."

"Since when did you start believing her?"

I shrugged, and then mumbled an "I don't know."

"Come one, if Darry didn't want you, then she wouldn't have to take us to court. Even I can see that."

I thought that over. Why hadn't I thought about it before? It seemed so obvious now. Maybe Darry did care a little bit.

Soda's voice was excited again. "We're coming Sunday to get you."

"No, I have to work. And what about court?" I didn't want to disappoint him, but whether Darry gave Rachel permission or no I still couldn't go home. Not yet.

"We'll let Darry worry about that."

"I can't do that Soda. That would just be a bother to him. And we can't fight Rachel, we don't have the money."

Soda's voice was soft. "There's more to life than money Pone."

"Not in court. Let me stay. At least until we figure out what to do. We need the money, and Darry can be proud of me." I'm not sure why I cared so much what Darry thought about me, but I did, and this was my chance to prove myself to him.

He couldn't really argue with me because he knew we needed the money too. "I want you to come home now."

"I'll come home when we get it all settled. I promise." I knew if I talked to him much longer I would start crying. "I really need to go, I have to be at work early tomorrow."

"Pony…" He choked out.

"I'll call you again later Soda. Tell Darry I'm sorry." I opened the door and dropped the phone back onto the hook before I could hear his reply.

**Darry's POV **

When Soda came back into the living room I could tell by the look on his face that the conversation hadn't gone how he wanted.

"What'd he say?" I asked gently.

He sniffed and shrugged his shoulders. "He said Rachel's serious about court and he wants to keep working until we figure out what to do. "

My heart ached but there wasn't much I could do about it. "Ok"

"Ok? That's all you have to say? Don't you care?" Soda sounded irate.

Of course I cared, but what was I supposed to do? I needed time to think about the situation and tonight was not a good time.

"Yes. You know I care. But what do you want me to do? Drag him home and lock him in his room? That would just make him hate me more Soda."

Soda looked startled for a moment. "Pony doesn't hate you." He paused and then spat out angrily, "You know, Rachel told him that you didn't want him anymore."

"What?" _Tell him the next time he tries to pawn me off on someone, he should at least let me know first. _Pony's words echoed in my mind. So that's why Rachel had come back. I had almost forgotten about that.

Things were starting to make at least some sense now and my anger towards Rachel grow. "How could she do that?"

"How could who do what?" I turned and saw Two-Bit and Johnny standing at the door.

"How could you come in and not slam the door." Soda teased. He seemed to have forgotten some of his anger already. Sometimes I wished I could forget things so easily.

"I slammed it, didn't I Johnny?"

Johnny rubbed his chin. "I don't believe you did Two-Bit."

"Well then," Two-Bit opened the door again and slammed it for good measure. "Any word from the kid?"

I briefly explained the situation to the two, half wishing he hadn't asked.

"Looks like your friend's gonna be a Soc'n it a little longer Johnny,"

Johnny's eyes searched me and I could tell he wasn't any happier than we were.

"Oh Darry, Pony said to tell you he's sorry."

Hearing that made some of the worries from the day disappear. I looked over at Soda and grinned. "How 'bout some football Little Buddy?"

"Football? Ain't it a bit dark to be playing football?" Two-Bit questioned.

"Not tonight it isn't."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**Katelyn's POV**

"This is our stop." Two-Bit remarked as he got up, dragging me with him. We hopped off the bus and I wondered how he had ever managed to talk me into this.

He'd met me as soon as school was over and next thing I knew he'd convinced me to get on the bus with him. Where he got the money for the bus fare I had no idea, and probably didn't want to know. Dad would really give it to me when I got home, but it was too late to worry about that now.

A big, burly man was helping unload some luggage. Somehow he seemed out of place, but I wasn't sure how.

"Where to now?"

"Now we're off to find Ponyboy."

At the mention of Pony's name the man seemed to pause and look over at us. I told myself it was nothing and replied sarcastically. "I know that much. But I don't suppose you bothered finding out where he's staying."

"For you're information, Ms. Smartypants, I DID happen to find out where he's staying…..I just don't know how to get there." He mumbled the last part and I almost didn't catch it.

"Two-Bit." I sat down on a bench exasperated, expecting him to follow but he didn't.

Instead he walked up to a lady. "Excuse me Ma'am. Could you please tell us where 361 Henderson Blvd is?"

The lady was well-dressed and didn't look pleased with having a strange greaser-looking guy approaching her. She pointed to the left "That way."

"How far that way?" Two-Bit started to ask but the lady turned and started to hurry off.

Two-Bit called out after her. "I wouldn't bother you Ma'am except my little sister here."

She stopped and turned back towards us, spurring Two-Bit to continue.

"She's uh, got a bum leg and can't walk too good."

I took that as my cue and limped over pathetically. He could make up a good story when he needed to, but he still wasn't a great actor and he could use some help.

"Is it very much farther Keith?" I asked in my most pathetic voice.

"Not too much Katie. I'm just getting final directions from this kind lady here."

This "kind lady" saved him from my wrath. He knew how much I hated to be called Katie.

"Do you know someone there?" She asked us sweetly.

"Yes. Our dear Grandmother. She just moved here and took a nasty turn for the worse. We're going to visit her."

I covered my mouth and sniffed in effort to hide my grin.

"Oh dear. You poor things. Well, I suppose I could give you a ride, it is quite a ways to walk."

The lady's car was a tuff, red mustang. Wouldn't Two-Bit have something to tell the boys when we got back. None of us said much during the ten minute drive.

When we arrived Two-Bit started up again. "We really appreciated that. Our parents, bless them, couldn't afford for all of us to come out here so they just sent us and…" I squeezed Two-Bits arm and shot him a glance. He was going a bit overboard.

"Thank you Ma'am." I said and nudged Two-Bit out of the car. As soon as she was out of sight I slugged him in the arm "Don't you ever call me Katie again."

Unfazed, he pulled out a cigarette and headed for the house. "That was some tuff car huh kid? Wait till I tell Steve about that. This is some nice house too."

I pushed in the doorbell and we waited. When no one answered Two-Bit began pounding and then tried the knob to see if it was locked.

"This ain't the Curtis house stupid." I looked around for a car but didn't see one. "I don't think anybody's home."

Apparently that didn't bother him any. "I'm going to try the back door." He headed around the side, trying every window along the way.

"Two-Bit, what are you thinking? You can't just walk into her house. Two-Bit!" He was going to get us in trouble for sure. I hurried around after him.

"No luck Katelyn. You'd think they were worried about people stealing from them or something."

"Come one, let's go wait out front." I really didn't want to get caught in this lady's backyard.

As I turned a man stepped into my path. The same big man I had seen at the bus stop. He stood with his arms folded across his chest.

"Ya'll waiting on someone?" His voice was low and gravely.

Two-Bit was calm. "Yeah, our grandmother."

"Sure. And you're sister here's got a bum leg too."

Shoot. He must have heard us, but why had he followed us here? He took a few steps towards us and I wanted to bolt, but Two-Bit just took another drag on his cigarette. If he could act cool, then so could I, but I sure was scared.

"You want to tell me what business you got with Ponyboy?"

"He's a friend of ours." I could see Two-Bits hand on his back pocket, ready to pull his blade.

The man saw it too and grabbed Two-Bit's arm, twisting it around his back. "I don't like it when strangers come sneaking around and making up stories. Don't sound right to me."

"Katelyn? Two-Bit?" I had never been more relieved to see Ponyboy in my life. "What are you two doing here?"

"You know these guys?" The man still had a grip on Two-Bit.

"Sure Jasper. They're good friends of mine."

"Well then." A grin broke over Jasper's face and he pulled Two-Bit and I into a bear hug. "Any friend of Pony's is a friend of mine.

**Jasper's POV**

I stood back and listened as the three caught up on how people were doing. As I had figured, there was more to Pony's story than just helping out his aunt. It sounded like he had brothers and friends who cared about him a lot, but he must not have seen it that way.

Who was I to talk though. Hadn't I gone through the same thing when I was young. Running off when I was nine and getting into all sorts of trouble. It wasn't until recently that I realized my parent's really had cared about me, I just couldn't see it then.

"Dally's in jail again." I heard Two-Bit pronounce. "Got into a pretty big fight the day after you left."

"Really?" All three turned to look at me. Those were the first words I'd spoken since I let go of Two-Bit and I think they'd forgotten I was there.

I'd first met Dally in New York City when I was thirteen and he was nine; his first time in juvenile hall. Normally I didn't take to new kids but he was a tough, reminded me a lot of myself, so I'd given him a few pointers.

"That kid's gotta learn not to get caught." Shoot, I got into every bit as much trouble as he did, but I hadn't been in the cooler in five years. He could have avoided it too. Maybe he just didn't care.

"How do you know Dally?" Two-bit's question was a bit defensive, just as Pony's had been. Loyalty was high with this group, that was good.

"Oh, I get around." It was all they really needed to know. If Dally wanted them to know more, he could fill them in.

Two-Bit must not have been one to stick to a subject because he dropped the matter and turned to Ponyboy, "So, how's it feel to be living with the Soc? You might oughta give Katelyn a few lessons."

"You just can't let me forget about that can you?" Sounded like a pretty touchy subject.

"What?" Ponyboy looked shocked. "But I thought you were just moving across town."

Katelyn kicked her toe against the ground and mumbled, "Yeah well, things change sometimes."

The air got pretty tense so I piped in, "Coming to The City?"

"No, just the west side of Tulsa." Katelyn's eyes were lowered to the ground and I could tell she wasn't too happy with the situation.

"Well then, I'll check in on you sometime."

"But I don't know exactly where yet."

"I'll find you."

Poor kid. She looked really worried. I thought back to when I had first decided to live in a rich neighborhood. I'd done it just to prove that I could. It was definitely a change, but it could be managed.

"Don't worry. The west side ain't so bad once you get used to it. You just gotta know how to act and from what I've seen so far, you can do that pretty well. You'll make it ok."

That boosted her confidence a little any way. "Pony, I'll catch you later." I hitched my thumbs in my belt loops and sauntered off. I had someone else I needed to check on before the night was over.


	17. Chapter 17

**Katelyn's POV**

I wondered if Jasper really meant what he said about checking up on me. The thought that he would brought me some comfort, but I still wasn't happy with the whole situation and was going to keep trying to change my dad's mind.

"Why did you guys come here?" Pony wanted to know. I was actually wondering the same thing. Not that I didn't want to see Ponyboy, but I wasn't sure what had possessed Two-Bit to come.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing. Ya know. We haven't heard from you since Soda called you a week ago. "

That didn't sound like the only reason, but it was hard to tell with Two-Bit. He pretty much did whatever popped into his head.

Pony shifted a little awkwardly, "I don't know about y'all, but I'm starved."

We went back around to the front of the house and Ponyboy unlocked the door.

"I still think I could have gotten in another way." Two-Bit was mumbling to himself.

As I looked around the inside, I had to give Rachel credit for one thing, she had great taste in decoration. Things were expensive, no doubt, but they weren't gaudy and she never went overboard. The mantel over the fireplace was adorned with photos of her, much younger, with two little boys.

"Who are they?" I asked Ponyboy, wondering if she'd had children.

"That's Darry and Soda" He remarked.

"Really?" That got Two-Bit's interest. "THAT'S Darry? He's so….scrawny."

I laughed along with him. I wouldn't have recognized Darry either, but Soda had the same reckless grin as ever.

By this time Two-Bit was off exploring the rest of the house. "Hey look at this!"

I entered the room he was in and saw the shelves of model cars. "Wouldn't Steve like to see this. Man. Someday I'm gonna have me a car like one of those."

"Hey," Pony interrupted, "You're not supposed to be in here. And don't touch that Two-  
bit." He grabbed the car out of his hand and placed it carefully back on the shelf. "If Mark notices anything out of place we'll be in trouble for sure."

"You're no fun Pony."

"Life isn't all about fun." The words were spoken with disdain. "Let's get something to eat."

"What do you have?" Two-Bit opened the icebox and examined it's contents and then began listing them: "Lettuce, carrots, broccoli….ain't she got something besides rabbit food Ponyboy?"

"Nope. She's a vegetarian."

"Then what have you been eating?" Two-Bit ate as little vegetables as he could get away with.

"It's not THAT bad Two-Bit. Though I have been eating a lot of peanut butter."

A small dog bounded into the kitchen and began barking and jumping around our legs.

"Princess sit." Ponyboy commanded.

The dog obediently sat and, let me tell you, this had Two-Bit's full attention.

"That dog listened to you Ponyboy. It actually obeyed you." He was clearly awed, which Pony and I both found amusing.

"Sure she did. She can do other things too." And he proceeded to have Princess lie down, roll over, jump, speak, and then he lifted her up and had her give Two-Bit a kiss.

"I'll be" Two-Bit said, "Someday I'm gonna get me a dog man, and we're gonna be best pals, just like Mickey and Pluto. And I'm gonna teach him all sorts of tricks…."

Pony and I simply rolled our eyes at each other and proceeded trying to find something that wasn't "rabbit food" to eat.

The front door opened and Princess ran off, yapping, to see who was here.

"That's probably Rachel." Pony informed us, "She said something about having some of her friends over."

"Rachel, you got new curtains. They really add a lot to the room." It was spoken with such airs that I doubted she really meant it. That was one of the things I disliked the most about rich people; they were always saying things they didn't mean.

"Oh Rachel, is your nephew still living with you?" They were apparently oblivious to our being a few rooms back.

"Yes, do tell us how that is going. I still say it was incredibly charitable of you, taking him in to help out like you did."

"What?" Two-Bit wasn't too happy with what he was hearing. "Charitable? She didn't do anything out of charity."

"Well now, that's not what I heard." Came a third voice, "I thought Rachel had asked him to come."

"Oh no, they asked her." They were talking as if Rachel wasn't even there. "After their parents died, the oldest one decided that he just couldn't manage to keep all of them so he asked Rachel if she could help out a little. That's when Rachel so graciously opened her home to Ponyboy, even got him a great job."

That was the most ridiculous, sappy story I had ever heard. Darry practically begging Rachel to keep Ponyboy. Ha!

At this point, Two-Bit really couldn't hold back any longer. He burst into the room and marched over to Rachel.

"You really think you're something don't you? Making up stories just so you can look good. Ponyboy may not want to say what he's thinking because you're his aunt, but you're not my aunt and I don't care what you think. You're a selfish, no good, lying….." Two-Bit's list continued and Rachel grew pale with shock.

Pony and I had followed him into the room and stood by, speechless. We were so busy paying attention to Two-Bit that we didn't notice anyone open the front door until a tall man came and grabbed his arm.

"I don't allow language like that in this house, young man. I suggest you get out." The man's voice was strong and firm.

Two-Bit jerked his arm loose and faced the man. "If I were you I'd be more worried about the lies and the…."

Pony turned to me, "You better get him out of here before he makes things worse."

He didn't have to tell me twice. "Come on Two-Bit" I said, giving him a hard push towards the door. "See you later Pony." I sent him an apologetic look and left with a still raging Two-Bit.

Once outside I turned towards Two-Bit, "What were you thinking? You know you could have gotten Pony into a lot of trouble."

"I couldn't help it. She made me so mad."

"I know, she made me mad too.." I really was just as angry as he was, but I knew that blowing up like that would only make matters worse.

"That Rachel is so….so…." Two-Bit clinched his teeth in anger and was silent for the rest of the long walk back to the bus station.


	18. Chapter 18

**Pony's POV**

Rachel began mumbling apologies to her friends. "I really don't know who they were. I'm sure they weren't really friends of Ponyboy."

"I should hope not." One of the ladies replied. "I should hope you wouldn't allow your nephew to hang around hoodlums like that. Did you see the way they were dressed?"

Who were they to criticize how we dressed? They may look nicer on the outside, but they sure weren't any prettier on the inside.

"Awful. It's no wonder you want him living here with you. Maybe you can keep him from dropping out of school like his lazy brother."

I couldn't take it anymore. Nobody insults Soda and gets away with it. "Don't you dare call my brother lazy!" I shouted. "He works harder than any of you. And my friends may not dress as fancy as you, but at least we aren't hypocrites."

If they had a response, I didn't wait to hear it. I ran. I didn't know where, I just ran. It wasn't until my lungs refused to take another breath that I collapsed onto the ground. For the first time, I looked around to see where I was. Nothing looked familiar, but right now I didn't really care.

I was too mad to care. Mad at Rachel for being so…what was the word? Well, rich. Rich and snooty and trying to tear apart our family. Mad at Two-Bit for yelling at Rachel, even though she did deserve it. Mad at the world for being so unfair and taking my parents. The only thing I wasn't mad at right now was Sodapop. I missed him like crazy and almost decided to go home for that very reason. But then I thought about Darry. I was mad at Darry for being so hard and hating me so much.

I felt a swift kick to my leg, not hard enough to bruise, but it sure got my attention. "You really ain't being too smart kid. Out here by yourself at night, not paying a bit of attention to who's around." I was relieved to hear Jasper's voice, but he was sounding too much like Darry.

"There ain't no one around." I pointed out.

"No one but me." Jasper scoffed. "I coulda cut you to ribbons before you had a chance to look up."

Ok, so he was right. I should have known better, especially after Johnny'd gotten beat up so bad, but I just hadn't thought about it.

He jerked me to my feet. "Come on."

"I'm not going back to Rachel's."

"You're not staying here either. It's not safe, and trust me, I know."

Trust him. I knew better than to trust just anyone, but he _did _seem fairly trustworthy.

"You're friends left already?"

"Uh, yeah." As we began walking I wondered how he had found me. He had a way of appearing just when you needed him. I toyed with the idea of asking why he bothered; Dally wouldn't have. "Hey Jasper?"

"Hmm?" Jasper answered absentmindedly.

"What are you doing over here?"

Jasper moved his alert eyes to my face. "Over where?"

"Here. Oklahoma City, on this side of town."

"To keep kids like you from getting yourselves killed."

I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously. When I moved out here I realized just how tough it could be. Kids like you and Katelyn getting picked on while the "grownups" looked the other way. I figured someone's gotta stick up for 'em."

We continued on in silence for quite a ways. I hadn't realized I had run so far. Somehow, walking with Jasper next to me reminded me of walks I used to take with Soda - before Mom and Dad had died.

"Darry hates me." I blurted out suddenly. I'm not sure what possessed me to say it. I'd never said that to anyone, not even Soda.

Jasper thought that over for a moment before he answered me. "Somehow I doubt that, but for arguments sake let's say that he does. What about your other brother," His brows furrowed together, "Coca…Soda…Pepsi - Can….uh Pop."

I grinned in spite of myself. "Sodapop."

"Yeah. Sodapop. I was getting there. Anyway, what about him? Guess it don't matter what he thinks."

Was he crazy? Soda was the most important person in my life. "Of course it matters."

"Then why don't you care how he feels?"

"I DO care." How could he even think that I didn't care?

"But you care more about what Darry thinks."

"No, I don't."

"No? Then how come you're here trying to prove something to Darry instead of going home for Sodapop?"

I wasn't trying to prove something to Darry, I was trying to stay out of his way. "Darry doesn't want me." I said, crossing my arms. "Besides, if I go home Rachel's gonna take us to court and it wouldn't be fair to drag them through that. It would just make Darry worry more."

"So he'll worry less knowing you're here with your aunt?"

Jasper was being entirely too reasonable. How could he think so straight?

"It's not fair."

"If you're expecting life to hand you a diamond on a silver platter, you're gonna die disappointed Ponyboy."

I sighed. Obviously he didn't understand.

It was almost as though he read my thoughts "I do understand. You think you got it pretty rough. And it is hard, losing people you love, but you aren't the only one. Your brothers lost people too. And look at Katelyn, moving isn't going to be easy for her. And Dally, there's a guy who's been through a lot."

"What about you?" I couldn't help asking.

"Me? I guess you could say my life was pretty similar to Dally's. But Dally…Dally can't care. He can't open up or he'll crack. That's where we're different. The last time I got out of jail I saw a kid getting beat up - bad. 'Let him get beat up.' I said to myself. 'Let him learn how to fend for himself and be tough like me. Get tough, and nothing can hurt you.' I kept walking, but his screams followed me and I realized that being tough and closing myself off wasn't helping anybody, not even myself, so I decided to DO something. To make a difference."

The more we talked, the more I liked him. He was like a giant teddy bear with a gruff exterior. Life had made him that way, same as it had Dally. Only Dally wasn't a teddy bear inside, he was a big ol' grizzly. Maybe life had made Rachel the way she was too.

"Ponyboy, you need to go home."

I was startled. "What?"

"I ran off when I was nine. I knew it would hurt my mom but I'd convinced myself that my dad hated me and I wasn't going to stay where I wasn't wanted. I've kicked myself a million times for leaving my mom like that. I went back to see her a couple years ago and she didn't want anything to do with me." He paused and looked down at me. "You've got something good with Sodapop, don't throw it away."

And with that he was gone, just as quickly as he had come. I thought about everything he'd said and realized that he was right. I _did _want to prove something to Darry. I wanted to prove that I wasn't just a bother; that I was useful, like Soda. And I _had _been ignoring how Soda felt. I remembered the tears in his eyes the day I left and I felt more horrible than I've ever felt in my life. Going through court again wouldn't be as bad as what I was dragging him through right now.

I could see Rachel's house down the street. As soon as I got back I would call Soda and have him come get me.


	19. Chapter 19

**Soda's POV**

As soon as both hands on the clock reached 12:00 I jumped in the car and took off. Darry had wanted us to wait until the weekend to get Ponyboy, but Mr. Hall had offered to let me off work early on Thursday. How could I say no to that and yes to waiting? I couldn't, and now I had only a few more hours before my brother was really mine again.

It occurred to me, as I sped down the highway, that Darry may have wanted me to wait so he could come too. After all, Pony's leaving had been just as hard on him. He didn't show it, but I knew it had.

"But if I go Thursday, you'll get to see him that much sooner." I'd reasoned with Darry.

"Ok ok." He usually gave in to what I wanted. "You can go, but you'll have to get up early and take me to work."

That was fine with me. I'd been too excited to sleep anyway.

What was supposed to be at least a three hour drive had only taken me a little over two. As I rang the doorbell I realized that Ponyboy would still be in school and I would have to wait for him. I waited, almost wishing Rachel wasn't home, because I wasn't sure if I really wanted to see her right now or not. She hadn't been my favorite person of late. Actually, she never had.

But she was home and I was greeted with a warm "Sodapop, it's so good to see you!" and a pat on the shoulder.

_You liar_ I thought, but I smiled nicely and stepped inside.

"Ponyboy told me you were coming, but I didn't expect you this early. He's still at school you know, but he should be here any minute. I guess you could come on up and get his suitcases."

As I looked towards the stairs I remembered the last time I had been here. I was five and I hadn't liked it one bit.

_Rachel had been having some sort of party or something and Darry and I were supposed to stay upstairs, keep an eye on Ponyboy, and behave ourselves. We weren't allowed outside, and we weren't allowed to run. Darry, and even Pony, had sat quietly and looked at books and colored and I had almost gone insane. _

_I'd paced across the room, crawled across the room, and somersaulted across the room. Finally, I decided that anything would be better than staying in that little room, so I'd crept downstairs and crawled into the kitchen, undetected. The table was covered with food, but only one thing had looked at all good to me, and that was the chocolate cake - with chocolate icing. There were a few close calls when I had to hide behind one of the doors, but I'd managed to get three wonderfully huge pieces of that cake upstairs to my brothers. _

_A bit later, we'd been summoned downstairs for lunch. None of us were very hungry after eating all that cake, but we'd had to sit at the table anyway. I remember marveling at how still Pony could sit, even though he was only two. As grown-up talk circled around me and the sugar kicked in, I couldn't take it any longer. My leg had shot out and met with Darry's shin. He kicked me back and a leg-wrestling match had broke out until Mom caught our attention and sent a look that said we'd better stop immediately and sit still. _

_I had tried, but I had been so bored and restless that I had to amuse myself somehow. It was then that I'd taken notice of the potatoes left on Darry's plate and thought about how they looked like a pile of clouds. The carrot on my plate looked a bit like an airplane, so I decided to zoom it through Darry's clouds. It didn't really zoom well and it had sent potatoes flying onto Darry's lap. He gave me a death glare which I, for some reason, had found irresistibly funny. I'd had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing. _

_Pony saw what I'd done and began flying around his own carrot. This, Darry found to be funny and before I knew it all three of us were flying carrots and laughing hysterically. At least, we were until Dad had lectured us and then taken us back upstairs where we were condemned to stay for the rest of the day, and the next day too. Those had been two of the most miserable days of my young life._

It was to that room Rachel led me now. Just seeing it made me restless. Rachel cleared her throat, "If you'll excuse me, I have something in the oven I have to check."

She left and I couldn't help bending down and looking at the floor board next to the closet. "Sodapop P. Curtis" was still etched in scrawling letters. I wondered if she had ever noticed it.

"What are you doing Sodapop?"

"Ponyboy!" I turned lunged at him, nearly knocking us both down. "I missed you so much buddy."

"I missed you too Soda." He looked different somehow. Thinner and…the way he was dressed. He must have gotten new clothes from Rachel.

"Are you ready to go?" I was anxious to get out of this place.

"Yeah. Did Darry come?"

"No, he had to work." Pony looked a little disappointed and I wished again that I had waited for Darry. "He wanted to come, but I couldn't wait." I added so he would know it was my fault and not Darry's.

Pony shrugged. "Whatever. Hey you never told me what you were doing on the floor."

He knelt down where I had been and then looked up at me, confused. "When did you do that?"

I just grinned wildly. "I'll tell you on the way home." With a suitcase in one hand and the other on Pony's shoulder, we walked back downstairs.

Rachel pushed open the door to the kitchen, bringing the smell of over-cooked broccoli with her and I remembered what Two-Bit had said about her just eating "rabbit food."

"Won't you boys stay for supper?" She asked.

That was definitely that last thing I wanted to do, but I didn't want to be rude either. I looked over at Pony and he gave me a pleading look that seemed to say "Please don't make me stay and eat her food again."

A grin played at my lips and I shook my head. "No thanks, I think we better be going. Darry will want us home as soon as possible."

As I reached for the doorknob a small white dog came bounding into the room. It was like she knew Pony was leaving and wanted to say goodbye.

"That must be the dog Two-Bit was talking about." I commented. After he and Katelyn had been here, Two-Bit had gone off on another rampage about getting a dog.

Pony lifted the dog so she could lick his face. He looked a little regretful that he had to leave her. It was probably the only thing he would miss about this place.

He certainly wouldn't miss Rachel, who was now standing with her hands on her hips, "This doesn't mean I'm giving up you know. Your father wouldn't want you to be struggling like you are."

What did she know about our Dad. He would rather us stick together than to be rich and end up like Rachel. "Come one Pony, Darry's waiting." I said.

As we pulled out of Rachel's driveway, I hoped I would never have to see her house again.


	20. Chapter 20

**Pony's POV**

We managed to heave the overly heavy chest outside, but that was as far as we got. Two-Bit and Katelyn's banter had Soda and I in stitches and we were laughing way too hard to be of any more assistance. We wouldn't get any assistance from Two-Bit either, who was mostly here for the kicks and not to do any real work. He'd carried a box or two, but mostly he'd just barked out orders and gotten in the way. And Steve had had to work, so that left Johnny. Johnny wasn't weak by any means, but he wasn't so strong that he and Darry could lift the chest by themselves. It had taken a collective effort by all four of us to get it this far.

Darry frowned at all of us and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. "Hey Katelyn, what would your dad have done if we hadn't helped you load up all this stuff? Your uncle doesn't seem to be helping much."

Katelyn gave something between a smirk and a grunt. "Who knows."

Last night Katelyn's dad had rented a truck and informed her that she and her uncle were to get everything loaded up today so they could leave as soon as he got home from work. Since it was Saturday, we had all come over to give her a hand, which was a good thing. Shortly after we arrived, Katelyn's uncle had hopped in his own car and taken off. That guy was worthless and I could at least be glad of this: Katelyn wasn't going to be living with him anymore.

"Ponyboy, come on, quite laughing and help us out!" I turned my attention to Darry, who had somehow managed to get the day off. Why he was singling me out I didn't know, except that he always seemed to single me out. Things hadn't changed much between us.

_I had to admit that my return home hadn't been quite what I was hoping. I wasn't expecting Darry to tackle me in a hug the way Soda had, but I was hoping he'd at least act happy about it. When I walked through the door he had only looked my way and said, "Glad you're home kid." I heard that tone many times before, when I'd get home from school and he had something he wanted to tell me, or something for me to do. _

_"That's just Darry." Soda had tried to tell me. But whatever. What Soda thought about me was more important anyways. _

"Come on guys, this chest isn't going to move itself." He was getting exasperated, and Two-Bit was doing a wonderful job of mimicking him, which only provoked more laughter.

"Need a hand?" Jasper startled us as he stepped up onto the porch and grabbed the other side of the chest. With seemingly no effort, he and Darry carried it off the porch and lifted it into the truck.

"You must be Darry." Jasper held out his hand. I had been right, Darry was dwarfed next to him.

Darry seemed to be sizing the guy up as he gripped his hand. It wasn't every day a man like Jasper walked up and offered his assistance to strangers. Not in this neighborhood. "Have we met?"

"Pony told me quite a bit about you."

Darry shot me an inquisitive look and I gave a cocky grin back, pretending to act his superior.

Jasper turned around to Soda, "And you must be Soda Pop." The way he said it made it sound like two names instead of one.

Soda laughed good-naturedly. "That would be me. And you would be…."

Jasper looked over at me, a little puzzled. Ok, so I had forgotten to mention anything about him to my brothers. It just…I don't know, hadn't come up.

"That's Jasper!" Katelyn exclaimed, giving the big man a hug. I thought that was a little gutsy myself but she apparently didn't. "I can't believe you didn't tell your brothers about him."

"Yeah, what were you thinking Ponyboy?" Two-Bit added in.

I only rolled my eyes. "We met when I was at Rachel's." And that was the only explanation I cared to give for now. Maybe I would tell Soda more about him later. About how he knew Dally and all.

After a few minutes of casual talking, Jasper jutted his chin towards the house, "Who's that?"

Johnny stood, leaning against the side of the house with his hands shoved in his pockets. We had all pretty much forgotten that he was there. He was pretending not to hear us, but I knew he could.

"That's Johnny." I answered. Jasper frowned slightly and then a look of recognition came over his face and I wondered if he had heard Dally mention him.

"Hey, we still got quite a bit of work to do and it looks like it may start raining soon so we better get to it." Darry gave me a nudge and headed back for the house.

Once the truck was brimming, we took the load over to Katelyn's new house, and it was nice. I mean, really nice. It made their furniture look pretty lousy and I wondered why her dad hadn't just bought some new stuff. Seeing the house made what was happening really started to sink. Katelyn, one who was as much part of the gang as any of us, was moving to the WEST side.

As we returned to her uncle's house and loaded up the last of their things, the heavy, gray sky overhead began to match our mood, especially mine and Johnny's. Johnny was more quiet than ever, if that's possible, his eyes changing between pain and emptiness.

Jasper made a point of catching me alone and asked, "How're you doing Pony?" I could tell there was more to the question than just a casual greeting and I remembered what I had told him about Soda and Darry.

"I'm ok. Things are….they're ok." And I managed a weak smile.

Katelyn's dad got home and smiled approvingly at the truck. "Is this everything Kate?"

"Yes sir. We already took one load over."

"Good girl." The man worked way too much, and none of us liked where he was moving, but he was really a pretty nice guy. At least he had enough sense to want something better for Katelyn.

"Hey, I really appreciate you guys helping out like you did. I don't suppose Robert helped much huh?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I'm gonna go check and make sure we got everything and then we better be off, I'm already starting to feel some sprinkles."

Katelyn turned to all of us. "Yeah, I really appreciate it. But Jasper…how did you know I would be moving today?"

"I said I'd be checking in on you didn't I."

"Yeah but..."

Jasper held up his hand. He wasn't going to let us know how he found out, but that was ok. The nice thing was, he HAD found out. That meant he could find out other things too, and would know if Katelyn ever needed help.

She gave Jasper another quick hug and then followed suit with each of us. Coming to Johnny last. I could see the tears burning behind Johnny's eyes. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair! I wanted to shout the words. Jasper noticed my change in mood and placed a hand on my shoulder. It was as if he were reminding me, "_If you're waiting for life to hand you a diamond on a silver platter, you're going to be disappointed." _

"Hey," Katelyn exclaimed when she pulled away from Johnny. "Where's Two-Bit?"

"Who knows." Was the only answer any of us could give.

Katelyn's dad came back outside and climbed into the truck, "Ready Kate."

Ready or not, she was leaving. She opened the door, and then turned towards us again, her head high, "Goodbye you no-good hoodlums. If I see you at school and don't talk to you, well….." And with a slight grin and a wave, she slid into the truck and closed the door.

If any of us could make it, Katelyn could. It would be hard, but she would act her way through and come out all right.

"Hey Jasper…" I turned to face him but he was gone. Oh well, I had a feeling we would be seeing more of him from time to time and I was very glad for Katelyn's sake.

Just then Two-Bit came running up, a stray dog following behind. "Hey!" he shouted after the disappearing truck. "You didn't wait for me! I wanted to SHOW you something!"

"You shouldn't have disappeared like you did then." I quipped, feeling a splash of rain on my face.

Two-Bit stood still for once, with the dog standing by his side.

"Well, what do you know." Soda piped up, trying to lesson the tension, "Looks like Two-Bit got him a dog after all."

Two-Bit's face lit up. "Yep. And we're gonna be best buddies. I'm gonna teach him lots of tricks."

"Sure you are." Sarcasm cloaked Darry's voice.

"I AM. You just watch." And with that he turned towards the dog. "Mickey, sit." The dog merely wagged is tail happily. "Sit." Mickey began inching forward. "No, SIT" …..Stay." Mickey only inched faster. "STAY….Wait! Stop! Come! Get back here you stupid mutt!"

Even Johnny laughed as Two-Bit chased after Mickey and his words drifted back, "I HATE dogs!"

"Gonna be best buddies." Darry smirked.

Soda slapped Darry on the back, "Yeah, gonna teach him all kinds of neat tricks."

I looked over at my brothers, "Hey, don't make fun of them. They're gonna join the circus and be famous."

"Not with that act." Darry's words were muted by a clap of thunder. "Come on, let's get home."


	21. Chapter 21

**One month later….**

**Pony's POV**

I began walking quickly away from the school building, ignoring Two-Bit's calls and Johnny's questioning eyes. Normally we all would have left together, but today I didn't feel like it, I just wanted to be alone.

As I walked past the middle school I slowed my pace and glanced around the crowds of kids, hoping to spot Katelyn. We hadn't seen her too much since she moved, but that was pretty much what we expected.

After a few minutes of watching I turned my steps towards town, a little disheartened. I really missed Katelyn, but the only ones I could tell that to was Soda and Johnny. The first couple weeks were really hard on Johnny, but he was starting to adjust and move on.

When Katelyn had moved, it struck me that life is somewhat like a current that flows endlessly. I was learning that it's so much easier to flow with it, then to fight. All that fighting will do is wear you out, and it certainly won't stop the flowing.

But with all it's flowing and splashing, life was finally starting to get back to normal. At least Rachel wasn't riding us about court anymore. After Mark heard the way Two-Bit went off, he told Rachel that there was no way he would let me come live with them.

Soda and I were as close as ever, and Darry and I were fighting as much as usual. But I guess that's just how it's going to be, because I know one thing for sure - no way was I ever going to go off and leave Soda like that again. Even if it means arguing with Darry for the rest of my life.

I approached the movie building and shielded my eyes from the bright sunlight. "Paul Newman - The Hustler" I liked most of Paul Newman's movies, but I hadn't seen this one. Since none of the other guys were around I would really be able to enjoy it.

As I waited for the start of the movie I saw a kid that I knew would not be able to sit still for more than five minutes. It drew my thoughts back to Soda, and for the second time in the past hour I told myself that I would never abandon him again. There's no way.


End file.
